Battlestar Galactica Nightmare?
by Flip62
Summary: Original Series Adama's worst nightmare is coming true.....or is it?This story is now complete. Please feel free to post a reveiw.
1. Default Chapter

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter One

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the darkness of his quarters, a solitary figure springs up in bed. His heart pounds rapidly, threatening to burst thru his chest at any moment. The bed clothes he wears are soaked thru with the cold sweat of fear. His eyes dart franticly around the room, searching for the enemies that had invaded his sleep only to find his room exactly as it should be. He swings his legs over the edge of the bed and sits for several moments, trying to will his thundering heartbeat to slow.

It seemed so real!

Adama had known the cold grip of fear before. Thru hundreds of battles, he had felt its icy touch. The tightness in ones stomach, the cold sweat on the palms of the hands, the lump that would inevitably work its way into the throat.....yes, Adama knew fear all too well.

But this was different somehow.

When one felt fear in combat, it would vanish once the battle was joined. Ones training would take over. Responses would become automatic. There was no time to think about fear.

Slowly, Adama was able to calm himself. He looked at the chronometer sitting on the small table next to his bed. Less then two centars before he was due to relieve Colonel Tigh on the bridge. He knew sleep would be impossible now, so he decided to get up and eat an early morning meal.

He was just making his way to the turbowash when the comm system beeped. Adama knew immediately that something serious must be happening for anyone to disturb him during his sleep period. He made his way over to the desk and pressed the button to activate the monitor. The screen was filled with the image of Colonel Tigh. Adama and Tigh had been friends for many yahrens, serving together as pilots in Bronze Squadron as young lieutenants and now as the command team of the Galactica. As soon as he seen his friends face, he knew it was not good news.

"Yes Colonel, what is it?" asked Adama.

"Sorry to wake you Commander, but we've lost contact with one of our patrols and they are now fifty centons past their scheduled check in." Tigh informed his commanding officer.

"Who had the patrol Colonel?" Adama asked somewhat concerned.

"Lieutenant Jolly and Flight Sergeant Greenbean." said Tigh.

"Jolly and Greenbean, they're both well aware of check-in procedures." Adama mused aloud. The frown on his face told Colonel Tigh that his commander was very concerned. "Do we have another patrol near by that can take a look and see if there might be a problem Colonel?"

"Yes sir, Ensign Konst and Flight Sergeant Crader are one sector away. I can have them swing thru Jolly's patrol area for a look." said Tigh.

"Good! Do so immediately Colonel. We need to find out why Jolly and Greenbean have not reported in. I'll join you on the bridge twenty centons." Adama said.

"Yes sir." was the colonel's quick response.

Adama ended the comm signal and sat for a moment staring at the vast star field as it passed by his veiwport.

"What's going on out there Jolly?" Adama whispered to himself. "What could have kept you from reporting in?"

Adama rose from his seat and began putting on the dark blue uniform that he had worn for so many yahren. No time for a turbowash now, nor any nourishment.

Duty called!

On the bridge of the great battlestar, Colonel Tigh stood on the raised command podium intently watching as his bridge officer, Lieutenant Omega tried to raise the missing patrol. The colonel was a very intense and dedicated officer. One of the finest warriors to ever wear the uniform of the Colonial service, he had been offered his own command on several occasions, but his deep felt loyalty to Commander Adama and the Galactica made any thoughts of leaving unconscionable.

"Anything yet Omega?" he asked for the tenth time in as many centons.

"Still no contact with Jolly and Greenbean's patrol." reported Omega. "Ensign Konst's patrol is approaching their last known position."

"Have them start a search of the area Jolly's patrol was to cover. Tell them to check in every ten centons." ordered the colonel. "Who has the next patrol on the duty roster?"

Omega brought up the patrol duty roster on one of his screens, "Lieutenants Bojay and Sheba are scheduled to relieve Jolly and Greenbean. Lieutenant Divac and Ensign Grum follow Lieutenant Konst's patrol."

"Send someone down to wake them. I want them ready to launch in twenty centons!" Tigh ordered.

"Yes sir!" Omega replied as he issued the colonels orders.

Adama entered the bridge a few moments later. He made his way up to the command podium and inquired, "Any word from our patrols colonel?"

"Nothing so far," Tigh replied. "Ensign Konst's patrol has started a search of the area where Jolly and Greenbean were last reported. I also have two more patrols preparing to launch. They should be ready within the next ten centons."

"Very good colonel, now all we can do is......" Adama started to say when he was interrupted by Omega.

"Commander! I'm receiving a signal from one of our patrol craft in zeta sector." Omega said. "It's very faint and somewhat garbled. I can't quite make it out; it's almost like......" Omega looked up from his console, a look for apprehension on his face. "Like its being jammed!" he finished.

Adama and Tigh exchanged a look both men knew this meant serious trouble.

"Colonel, sound battle stations. Have all squadrons launch immediately." Adama ordered. "Omega, alert the fleet. Have all ships alter course away from zeta sector. Have them rendezvous with us at position Lamda three."

The lights throughout the giant battlestar switched over to the red battle lighting as the klaxon sounded. In every corner of the mighty war ship, crew members woke from their slumber and rushed off to their battle stations. Those that were already on duty were already making preparations for the upcoming battle. In the squadron quarters, pilots vaulted from their beds and ran, most pulling on uniforms as they went, for the transport trams that would take them to the launch bays.

"What in Hades is going on!" yelled Lieutenant Starbuck as he tried in vain to get one of his boots on while trying to run to the tram.

"Who knows Starbuck? Maybe it's just a drill!" Lieutenant Giles yelled as he wrestled with his pants.

"Damn fine time for a drill, I just got to bed a centar ago!" Starbuck yelled angrily.

"It's not a drill!" yelled Captain Apollo. "We've lost contact with Jolly and Greenbean and now our signals are being jammed, probably by Cylons!" Apollo was the Strike Wing Commander for the Galactica's six squadrons of viper fighters and Commander Adama's eldest son. "Let's go people, we launch in five centons!" he said as he grabbed his helmet from the storage shelf and headed for the tram. Starbuck was right behind Apollo, still trying to buckle on his laser pistol, Boomer, Giles, Cree, and the rest of Blue Squadron following on their heels.

As the pilots reached the launch bays, they quickly manned their vipers. Systems checks were done and engines fired up even before their canopies finished closing. Apollo glanced up and down the flight line to see if his squadron was ready. One by one, the crew chiefs gave the thumbs up signal, letting Apollo know his people were ready to go.

"Launch control, this is Blue Squadron leader. All vipers manned and ready to launch!" reported Apollo to the flight controllers on the bridge.

"Roger Blue Squadron leader, Core Command transferring launch control to all vipers, launch when ready." came the response from Sergeant Rigal.

"Roger that, Blue Squadron launching." Apollo confirmed.

One after another, the pilots pressed themselves back into their seats as they pressed the turbo button on their joysticks. Vipers raced down the launch tubes on their rails until they were released into the vastness of space. Once they were formed up into attack formation, they moved forward to meet the unknown.

On the bridge, Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh watched as three squadrons were launched. Blue Squadron took the point position of the Galactica forces flanked by Red Squadron on their left and Silver Spar Squadron on the right. These moved out ahead of the Galactica to intercept and engage any enemy forces. Orange and Green Squadrons, both newly formed, were held in standby, ready to be dispatched to form a defensive perimeter around the Galactica while the White Squadron, made up of those pilots with the least experience or still in training, were sent with the fleet as escort to the rendezvous point.

Watching his fighters move out from the bridge, Adama asked his bridge officer, Lieutenant Omega, "Any word from our patrols?"

"Intermittent signals only, just as before." Omega responded as he continued to work the controls on his console, trying to bring in the weak, distorted signals. His frown deepened as he worked. Then after what seemed like a millennium, he spoke up, so excited he was almost yelling.

"Commander, I think I have them.....Yes! I have them now sir!" Omega said.

"Excellent! Put it on speaker." Adama ordered.

Adama and Tigh stood behind Omega as he flipped the switch to the speakers at his station. The signal was still somewhat weak and static laden, but it was understandable. The three men leaned forward so as to be able to hear better.

"Patrol Two to Galactica! Do you read me?" came the scared, yet professional voice of Ensign Konst. "We have a large number of Cylon fighters heading your way. I've lost Crader. Jolly and Greenbean both have extensive damage and injuries. We need immediate assistance. Galactica, do you copy? Please acknowledge!"

Sergeant Rigal's calm, professional voice was heard saying, "We read you Patrol Two. How many fighters and baseships are involved Patrol Two?"

"Estimate over one thousand fighters, three baseships verified, possibly more." Came the report from Ensign Konst.

Adama and Tigh straightened as one, exchanging a glance that told the other exactly what was on the others mind. Tigh was the first to lend voice to his thoughts.

"That's nearly as much firepower as we faced at Gammory!" Tigh said.

Adama nodded his head slowly, saying, "And we don't have the advantage of the Pegasus coming to our rescue this time."

The voice from the speakers was heard again.

"I repeat, we need immediate assistance. Greenbean's ship has heavy damage to engines one and three. Jolly has severe electrical damage. Both ships have lost their communication systems. Both pilots have sustained serious injuries. FRAK! The Cylons are gaining on us. Galactica, PLEASE! Send help immediately."

Adama picked up the extra head set and plugged it in to the console, then spoke in a firm, reassuring voice. "Ensign Konst, this is Commander Adama. We have launched all squadrons already. Help is on the way. Can you make it back safely?"

"I don't think Greenbean's ship will make it before the Cylons catch up to us sir! They're gaining on us too fast." Konst replied.

Adama turned to Colonel Tigh, grief and sorrow etched into his face. If Jolly and Konst stayed with Greenbean, all three pilots would most likely be lost. If they went to max turbo's, they could make it back, but that would mean sacrificing Greenbean. Adama hated situations like this. What was he to do? Did he condemn one man to certain death to save two others or take the chance that help would arrive in time to save all three?

His duty to the fleet made only one choice possible.

"Ensign Konst, I want you and Lieutenant Jolly to make best speed back to the Galactica." Adama said, his face a mask of anguish.

There was a long, silent moment's pause, then came the very confused response.

"Sir, if we leave Greenbean, he doesn't stand a chance!" Konst said.

Adama's head dropped to his chest, his eyes closed. He then lifted his face and took a deep breath. "I understand that Ensign." He said somberly. "I cannot risk losing all three of you in the hope of saving one man with a ship that is so badly damaged. If there is as large an attack force inbound as you said, we need every pilot we have."

Another pause ensued before Ensign Konst relied.

"Commander, with all due respect, I can not leave a man behind. I couldn't live with that!" the young pilot said.

"Ensign, I know how you feel. But I have to think about what is best for the fleet. I'm ordering you to increase speed back to the Galactica" Adama said with as much force as he could.

"I'm sorry Commander, but I will not abandon a fellow warrior as long as he has a chance." was Ensign Konst's response.

Adama and Tigh exchanged a look that both understood. Both men knew what the young warrior was feeling. To desert a wounded comrade in battle was unthinkable, but under the present situation, there was little choice.

"Ensign Kon....."

Adama's next words were cut off by Omega's excited voice. "Commander, Patrol Two is coming in on our scanners now. Three ships, moving at slow speed."

Adama and Tigh both stared at the scanner screen on Omega's console. Three small blips, the ships from Jolly's patrol, could be seen moving across the screen in a pyramid formation. After a few moments, a number of small triangle shaped blips began to appear. These moved much faster and were far more numerous. They were closing the gap between themselves and the three colonial ships fast.

"Now picking up the leading elements of the Cylon attack force sir." Omega said.

Adama and Tigh looked on in fascinated horror as with each passing micron, more and more Cylons appeared on their scanners.

"Lords of Kobal!" exclaimed Adama. "How long before our squadrons intercept the Cylon attack force?"

Omega pressed a few buttons on his console, and then said "Estimate 20 centons at present closing speed sir."

Adama nodded slowly, digesting this information. "And how long before they overtake Patrol Two?"

Omega hit a few more buttons. His face lost some of its color as he turned to the commander, "The Cylon attack force will overtake Patrol Two in fourteen centons at present speed. Their not going to make it sir."

Adama closed his eyes and nodded.

"Lords help them!" Adama mumbled under his breath. "Lords help us all!"


	2. Nightmare? Chapter 2

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter Two

Out in the cold, dark vacuum of space, three small craft try in vain to out distance the hordes of pursuers racing to deal death and destruction on them and all those they hold most dear. The three Colonial Vipers are being pushed to the limit by the relentless masses of Cylon fighters that just a short time ago they had stumbled across while on long range patrol. Two of the small spacecraft show signs of the hard fought battle that left both with severe damage and wounded pilots. The worst of the two damaged ships, that flown by the tall, blonde haired warrior named Greenbean, was the most heavily damaged, having its uppermost engine and stablator nearly blown off and the number 3 engine rendered inoperative. The lone remaining engine was being pushed well beyond its upper limits in an attempt to propel the viper to safety. The rest of the ship was scared all along its length by the near misses of the Cylon's fire. All these near misses had knocked out Greenbean's communication system and navigational equipment. Several electrical fires had left the pilot with painful burns on his arms, legs, and worst of all, his hands. It was only through sheer determination and the will not to fail that Greenbean was able to control of his stricken viper. Nearly every main system was offline and would not reset. He had to rely on the back-up systems to keep his ship operable. Greenbean knew he was not going to make it back to the Galactica, but refused to give up.

Next to him was his best friend and long time wingmate, Jolly. Jolly was a very mild mannered, friendly sort of fellow. He took quite a bit of friendly ribbing from his wingmate, due to is rather stout frame and well known affection for ale, but he was a very fine warrior. His viper too was in bad shape. A glancing hit on the forward part of the fuselage had caused a massive electrical surge throughout his ships systems, causing every system he had to overload and blow out. The small monitor in the center of his console had exploded, sending deadly shards of glass in all directions. Jolly was peppered with dozens of pieces to the face, neck, and chest. If not for his helmet and heavy jacket providing some protection, he may not have survived at all.

Leading the two damaged ships to what they hoped would be safety, was Ensign Konst. He and his wingmate, Flight Sergeant Crader, had been on patrol in the adjoining sector when they received orders to check on a patrol that had failed to check in. They had made their way to the last reported position of the missing patrol and began to follow the engine exhaust trails of the two ships. After a few centons, they began to pick up a strange electronic signal that was causing some interference with their scanners and comm systems. Then they found the reason why Jolly and Greenbean had failed to check in. In the distance, they saw a swirl of gleaming metal and the flashes of deadly red and blue laser fire. Their missing patrol was in a life and death struggle with a dozen Cylon Raiders

Konst and Crader immediately hit their turbos and streaked into the fray. The Cylons had been intent on destroying the human spacecraft; they failed to take notice of the two new arrivals. Before the Cylons knew it, four of their number went up in flames as the two new vipers struck with a deadly volley of laser fire.

Momentarily caught off guard by the new threat, the Cylon pilots hesitated in their attack on the colonials. That was all the time the human pilots needed. In a blinding flash of full turbos, all four Colonial Vipers veered away from their attackers and headed off at top speed.

"Thank the Lords of Kobal! Am I glad to see you guys!" exclaimed Jolly breathlessly. "I thought for sure we were goners!"

"What happened back there?" asked Konst. "How did they get the drop on you?"

"Damned if I know." Jolly said a little more calmly. "We had nothing on our scanners, just a lot of static, and then all Hades broke loose."

"Where's the rest of the squadron?" asked Greenbean looking around.

"There is no squadron, just us." said Konst. "We were on patrol and the commander sent us to look for you when you failed to check in."

"You mean you didn't get our message?" Jolly said, panic beginning to show in his voice.

"No, the Galactica hadn't heard from you for over a centar, so they sent us to find you!" Konst said.

"HOLY FRAK!" Jolly said angrily. "We just spotted the whole Cylon fleet heading this way."

"What do you mean the whole Cylon fleet? We only saw a dozen fighters." Crader said.

"Yea, well we had at least THREE baseships on our scanners before we got jumped!" Jolly told them. "We started to head back to warn the fleet when all of our electronics went haywire!" explained Jolly. "They must have some new kind of "super" jamming system going."

"Then we need to get the pogees out of here so we can warn the Galactica!" Konst said.

Suddenly, explosions erupted all around the four vipers. They had momentarily forgotten about their Cylon pursuers and were now coming under fire. Fireballs of laser blasts lit up the space around them, making their small craft shake violently. It was inevitable that sooner or later, the Cylons would hit their mark. And they soon did. A pair of laser bolts found the top engine of Greenbean's viper, blowing it apart.

"AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!! I'M HIT! I'm HIT!" screamed Greenbean.

All eyes shifted to Greenbean's stricken ship. Flames and sparks shot from the shattered engine and pieces of metal could be seen falling away in the slipstream as the viper slowly lost momentum. The flame disappeared as Greenbean shut off the fuel to the damaged engine. Jolly could see his friend working franticly to shut down all feeds to his number one engine.

"Whats your status over there buddy?" Jolly asked with great concern.

"Not too good big guy!" was his reply. "I lost my number one engine and number three is fluctuating. I may have to shut it down"

"That wouldn't be a good idea right now!" Konst said. "Those Cylons are still with us."

Another laser blast exploded near by to punctuate the statement.

"Well one thing is for sure! We aren't going to make it back if we keep giving these rust buckets our tails to shoot at." Konst said. "What say we show them our noses for awhile?"

"Good idea!" Jolly agreed. "Greenbean, you keep going. Try to get clear of this jamming and warn the Galactica. We'll see just how good their making Cylon pilots these days!"

"Whatever you say Jolly." Greenbean said. "Nail a couple for me!"

"You got it!" Crader said smiling.

"Alright you guys, lets give these tin cans a surprise," Jolly said to Konst and Crader. "on three!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"THREE!"

And as one, the three pilots hit their reverse thrusters and braking flaps, coming to a nearly full stop in space. The Cylons were totally caught unprepared for this maneuver by there human prey. The once tight formation of eight ships suddenly scattered in all directions in an attempt to avoid flying into the now stationary human craft. Three of the Cylons veered off to the left, two went to the right, and the remaining three shot up and over the stationary vipers and continued to pursue Greenbean's damaged viper.

"I've got the three on the left." called Crader.

"I got em on the right!" said Konst.

Jolly went after the three chasing after Greenbean. He caught up to them in mere microns using his turbos and began lining up his first shot on the lead Cylon. He waited for the fire control computer to lock on to the target, and then as soon as he had a lock on tone, he pressed the button on his joystick, unleashing several volleys of deadly red energy. The unsuspecting Cylons never knew what hit them as their Raider became a ball of fire in the dark night of space. The other two Cylon ships split up, veering off in separate directions. Jolly banked his viper to the right in pursuit of one Cylon, hoping he could dispatch the one before the other had time to chase down Greenbean.

Ensign Konst had taken up pursuit of the two Cylons that had broke off to the right. He closed the distance on them quite easily since most Cylon pilots used very few evasive maneuvers, as was the case here. The two Raiders flew one behind the other with the rear most ship slightly above the leader. This made it child's play for Konst to line up his shot. As soon as he was in position, he fired three volleys of laser fire at the two ships. The first bolt hit dead center of the trailing Cylon ship turning it into a fireball. The second shot hit the lead ship left of center; ripping away most of the left side of the ship from the main body. The Cylon ship began to tumble out of control, sparks and flames trailing behind. Konst stared after it for several moments, fascinated by the sight, and then he brought his lasers to bear on the spinning ship and fired. The Cylon exploded in a bright ball of fire. With both of his opponents vanquished, Konst turned his viper back toward Greenbean and Jolly.

The three Cylons Flight Sergeant Crader was chasing must have been newer models or had more experience then the others. As Crader began to close on them, they split in two directions. Two of them veered off to the left while the third one broke right. Crader went after the lone Cylon ship, hoping to score a quick victory before the other two ships could turn back on him. He started to line up his target when something in the back of his mind started to buzz. Crader immediately threw his viper into a rolling left bank. A huge explosion of blue laser fire went off mere metrons from his ship. The other two Cylons had already made their way back and were now right on his tail. Crader rolled out of his turn and hit his turbos, this shot his ship forward like a lightning bolt. Then he banked hard to the right, trying to get a fix on his adversaries. He spotted the two Cylons coming at him head on. Thinking he could get at least one ship on the first pass, he hit his turbos.

He would swing around after the first pass and nail the second Cylon before it could react. A good plan, he thought.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the third Cylon fighter.

It had swung around in a wide left hand turn and was now coming upon Crader's tail. He didn't see the lone Cylon fighter as it closed in for the kill, Crader being totally focused on the two ships approaching off his nose. Just as he was about to fire, a blue flash reflected in the canopy of his cockpit. Only his instincts and the reflexes honed by yahrens of combat allowed Crader to throw his viper into a hard right turn. Unfortunately, this maneuver was just half a micron to too slow as the deadly laser blast hit just below Crader's number two engine, tearing the left stablator off and shredding the number two engine. Crader's viper began spin and twist wildly through the vacuum of space. The violence of the explosion knocked Crader's remaining engines off line. Crader worked feverishly to restart his power plants as he continued to spin out of control. Malfunction warning lights were lit up all over his panels. Most of his ships systems wouldn't reset, and those few that did would drop off as soon as he tried to restart the engines.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Crader. I've been hit! I need immediate assistance. Engines off line. Konst! Jolly! Anyone! Please acknowledge!"

Crader repeated his call for help as he worked to restore power to his crippled ship. He glanced up from his work, catching movement outside his cockpit. What he saw sent a chill down his spine and brought a lump of fear to his throat. Off in the distance, moving across his view, was a huge fleet of Cylon fighters. Hundreds upon hundreds of them, flying right across his line of sight followed by three baseships. Crader tried desperately to get a warning message off to the Galactica.

"Galactica! Galactica! This is Crader! Do you hear me? My ship has been disabled. I have a large Cylon fleet moving on course Gamma zero four at position Theta six by Sigma twelve. I count three baseships and at least a thou......"

Crader's voice caught in his throat as three Cylon fighters slowly moved into a position directly in front of him. They lined up three abreast and just hung there in space. Crader took hold of his joystick and franticly tried to fire his weapons, but with no results. His lasers were useless without his engines providing power. Crader stared out at the three Cylon death machines, knowing he had no chance to escape. The only thought that came to his mind was ........This is going to hurt! At that moment, all three Cylon ships opened fire. Flight Sergeant Crader's viper evaporated in a giant fireball, leaving nothing of it or him. The three Cylon craft then turned back to rejoin the giant fleet of ships on their mission of destruction.

Jolly was able to close the gap on the Cylons within just a few microns and was now in firing range of the three ships pursuing Greenbeans damaged viper. He lined up his first victim and fired. Bright red laser bolts leaped from his viper and found their mark in the left engine of one of the Cylon fighters. The Cylon ship spun out of control for a moment before it finally blew up. Unfortunately, Jolly had misjudged his speed and distance from the target and was unable to fully avoid the scattered debris. Jolly's viper went right through the debris field and was pelted by hundreds of pieces of metal, slicing through the hull and tearing up electrical systems and electronics. Fires broke out in the nose section of the viper as systems began shorting out. In the cockpit, warning lights snapped on all over. The small monitor screen was hit by a powerful electrical surge, causing it to explode. Shards of glass flew into Jolly's face, neck, and chest. The communication system caught fire and shorted out causing the cockpit to fill with foul smelling smoke. Jolly sat dazed for several moments, unable to clear his head. His face was a bloody mask from all the cuts and gashes he received when the monitor blew. Instinctively Jolly hit his turbos and did his best to clear the fog from his mind. He knew that there was still two more Cylons out there somewhere and that he had to keep moving or he'd make an easy target for them. Jolly attempted to contact one of his fellow warriors for assistance, but found his comm system was fried. He lifted his hand to his face to wipe away the blood in his eyes, hoping he would be able to see something......anything! His vision was blurry, but he was able to make out some of his instruments. He found his comm gear inoperative, the navigational computer trashed, and half the gauges on the dash broken. He tried the flight controls and to his great relief, they still were functioning. The engine gauges all showed in the green, so he knew he could still fly........but in which direction? His nav computer was a smoldering pile of slag. He stared out the canopy of his viper, trying to find some hint as to which way to go. At first, he can see nothing, just the endless night of space. Then a distant flash of light catches his eye. The first is followed by several more. Jolly turns his wounded viper in the general direction of the flashes and hits his turbos. As he gets closer, he can see three small objects moving across his path. Moments later Jolly realizes that the objects are ships. One is a viper, bobbing and weaving to avoid being blown to bits by the Cylon fighter that is in pursuit. The third object is another viper, firing on the Cylon. Jolly hits his turbos again and races after them to join the chase.

Ensign Konst had just finished off the two Cylon fighters he had chased down with very little effort. He swung his ship around to rejoin his fellow warriors when he heard a faint, garbled transmission from Crader. All he was able to make out through the heavy electronic interference caused by the Cylon jamming was, "ship disabled" and "position Theta six by Sigma twelve". Konst checked his position on the nav computer and found he was only ninety microns away. He thought that if he could get there quick enough, he could attach a tow cable to his wingmate's ship and tow him back to the Galactica, so he altered his course and hit the turbos.

As he approached Crader's position, he could already see that he was too late. Crader's stricken viper hung in space, burnt and broken, as three Cylon fighters took up positions in front of it. Konst mentally pleaded with his friend to fire of move away.....anything! Then the three Cylons opened fire on the helpless human. A fireball replaced the viper that was once his friends. White hot anger roared through every fiber of his being. All he wanted to do at that moment was to charge in and destroy the three Cylon ships that had just murdered his friend. Just as he was about to hit his turbos and hunt down the murdering Cylons, he saw a sight that froze his heart. The Cylon attack fleet had just come into view. Vengeance would have to wait. He had to get back to the Galactica and warn them as to what was heading their way. So, Konst threw his viper into a tight turn and hit the turbos, moving away as fast as he could.

This however, did not go unnoticed.

The commander of the Cylon attack fleet, an IL series Cylon by the name of Phobius, having been notified of the fleeing colonials, ordered an entire attack wing to pursue and destroy the humans. With that, thirty Cylon fighters broke away from the main body of the attack fleet to hunt down the humans.

Greenbean had been pushing his damaged ship to the hilt. With one engine gone and another badly damaged, his speed had been cut to less then half the normal rate. As a result, one of the Cylons they had encountered earlier was able to double back and was now pressing home an attack on him. Bolts of blue death streaked by the wounded viper and exploded all around him. Zig zagging all over space, trying to avoid the relentless pursuit of his adversary, Greenbean tried pushing his damaged ship still harder, wringing every bit of speed he could out of his two remaining engines. Greenbean had always been told, "In a daggetfight, speed is life!" and right now, things were looking mighty bleak! Greenbean clicked on his comm system, hoping to find some help.

"Patrol one to Galactica, come in please. Patrol one to Galactica, please acknowledge!" he called, his voice beginning to show the panic he felt. "Greenbean to Jolly, can you hear me? Konst! Crader! Does anyone hear me? I need some help here! I have a Cylon on my tail and I can't shake him. Someone give me a hand here!"

There was no response!

Greenbean began to realize that he was on his own. Not the most promising situation he'd ever been in, that was for sure. Another laser blast exploded just outside his cockpit. Greenbean tried to make a hard turn to his left and hit his turbos, a purely instinctive move. Unfortunately for him, his ship was so badly damaged, it didn't respond nearly as quick as needed. The concussion from the near miss added to the sudden surge of power in response to Greenbeans hitting the turbos, caused what little bit of luck he had been riding to disappear. The damaged number three engine, already pushed to the limit, protested violently. Greenbean heard several loud popping sounds come from number three, then without any warning, the number three engine blew to pieces! This caused his viper to shake violently and come to a near halt in space.

The Cylon fighter that had been pursuing Greenbean had closed in a little to tight, so when the human's ship blew it's engine and dropped to a near stop right in front of it, the pilots did not have enough time to react properly. The pilots pulled the fighter into a tight turn, standing it on edge. This move avoided a collision with the colonial fighter, but sent the Cylons right through debris from the blown engine. Several large pieces of metal found their way into the Raiders intakes and lodged there. This caused the Cylons engines to overheat and shut down. The Cylon fighter glided away to a safe distance and attempted to restart their engines. After several tries, they were successful in restarting them but had to find a way to dislodge the debris from the intakes. They tried to reverse thrust, but were not able to get rid of the obstruction. The pilots then tried alternating forward and reverse trust. After a dozen tries, several large chunks of metal came flying out of the intake. This being done, the pilots did a quick systems check and after finding everything satisfactory, they turned back to where the colonial viper was floating in space to finish off the human.

Greenbean was sure he was finished. The Cylon fighter had been right on his tail and he knew he couldn't get away. Then he felt his viper lurch hard, the tail of the ship lifted so far, he thought he would start tumbling out of control. Then the tail dropped and he came to a near stop. Then he saw the huge form of the Cylon fighter sail over his ship, so close he could have reached out and touched it as it went by. It sailed away from him without firing again. Greenbean had to wonder what was going on. Had help arrived? He couldn't see any other ships, colonial or cylon. He tried his comm system again to see if he could raise anyone.

"Patrol One to Patrol Two! Patrol One to Patrol Two, come in please. Jolly, you out there somewhere buddy? Somebody talk to me!" he said.

There was no answer!

There was nothing at all now, not even static. That last explosion he reasoned must have knocked out his comm system.

"Oh great!" he mumbled to himself.

Greenbean ran a quick systems check and confirmed his worse fears, his comm system was totally shot and the number three engine had finally blown.

"What else could go wrong?" he said angrily.

Just as he finished the thought, movement caught his attention. He squinted his eyes trying to focus on the small object. Curiosity turned to fear as the object became a Cylon. Greenbean started flipping switches and pressing buttons in a vain attempt to restart his one remaining engine.

The Cylon began to accelerate, closing the distance between them quickly.

He had to get that engine started or he was doomed! Greenbean was nearly frantic as he tried to restart his engine. Switches set, prime fuel, energizer on, push the igniter and...... nothing!

The Cylon was coming into firing range, the pilots maneuvering into position, the commander taking aim on the stationary viper, waiting for the range to target meter to count down. It wouldn't be long now.

Greenbean was beginning to panic now. His engine would not restart. He tried again and again whit no positive results. He took a deep breath, trying to relax somewhat. Then he went through the restart sequence one more time. He checked his switch positions, all were in the proper positions. All circuits were on. Everything was set properly so what was the........!

Then he noticed that the indicator light to the energizer was not on!

He pulled the small panel off and found the wires to the switch had come loose. As fast as he could, he reattached the wires to the switch, but one of them would not stay connected! Greenbean looked for the Cylon and seen that is was almost on top of him.

His time was gone! He had to act now!

Greenbean reset his switches one last time, then with his left hand, he took the loose wire and held it in place while he readied himself for what was about to come.

"This is going to hurt!" Greenbean said as he hit the igniter.

Electricity surged through the ship, as the engine came back to life. Greenbean screamed in agony as the power shot through him. He pressed the turbo button on his joystick just as the Cylon opened fire. Greenbean's viper shot forward less then a micron before the Cylon laser bolts passed through the space he had just occupied.

Surprised again by their human prey, the viper seemed to leap away and head right for them. The Cylons turned hard to the left and pulled up to avoid a head on collision, then swung around for another shot.

Greenbean was in agony! His left hand was burnt and charred by the electrical surge that shot through the circuit he had been holding. Now his hand was useless.

But that was better then being dead he reasoned.

His viper had shot forward, right into the path of the Cylon ship. Pain and the fact his viper was so badly damaged mad it impossible to do much more then fly straight ahead. Greenbean knew he couldn't out run the Cylon; all he could do was hope and pray help would find him!

Konst was at full turbo on a straight line for the fleet. He had just seen his friend and wingmate, Ensign Crader, murdered by three Cylons while he was helpless to do anything. Then before he could reap his revenge, he found himself face to face with the entire Cylon attack fleet. Konst knew he had to warn the Galactica, so he turned his ship toward home and made a run for it, thinking he could make it out of range of the Cylon jamming and get a message off to the fleet. As he flew on at full turbo, he saw what looked like laser flashes. Then it struck him, Jolly and Greenbean! They were still out there somewhere. He had to help them. He may have been unable to save Crader, but he swore by the Lords of Kobal he would not fail again!

Konst hit the turbo button again, trying to squeeze every last bit of speed out of his viper. He closed on the point of the laser blasts fast and found a viper under attack by yet another Cylon. A picture of Crader being killed flashed in Konst mind. The fear that once again he had arrived too late to save his fellow warrior struck him like a hammer.

"OH NO, NOT THIS TIME!" he shouted inside his cockpit. "I left my wingmate once and Crader paid for it with his life. I swear by the Lords of Kobal that will NEVER happen again! I'll never leave another warrior behind."

So Konst closed in on the Cylon with murderous intensity. Konst saw the Cylon take a long shot at the viper, missing by bare metrons. The viper was zigging and zagging wildly, but was moving so slow he knew it was badly damaged. Konst fell in behind the Cylon and began closing the distance on the enemy fighter. The Cylon fired again on the helpless viper, just missing. Konst knew the Cylon would destroy the viper in mere microns if he didn't get the Cylon first. He needed to distract the Cylon, so even thou he was still out of range, Konst started firing his lasers at the Cylon ship. His hope was to make the Cylons turn to deal with him and give his comrade a chance to escape. If only they would take the bait!

The explosive concussion of laser fire was the first hint the Cylon commander had that his ship was under attack, so intent on the Colonial viper in front of them that they never scanned their rear quadrant. The Cylon commander switched his scanner to the rear area.

"Scanning rear quadrant." The Cylon commander droned.

After several moments, the Cylon commander said, "One Colonial viper detected, bearing one hundred eighty degrees by Delta one point two five. Begin evasive maneuvers."

"By your command." The left side pilot said as it began a quick left turn.

Konst had been waiting for the Cylon to make its move. He was still too far away to get a lock on the Raider, but with a bit of luck, he might get them to turn away from the other viper and come after him. As if in answer to his prayers, the Cylon ship veered away from the stricken viper and began a series of quick turns.

His plan had worked!

Konst glanced in the direction of the retreating viper, still moving incredibly slow, seeing that its flight path had steadied up and was on course for the Galactica, he turned his full attention back to the Cylon. It had concluded its evasive maneuvering and was now on an intercept course directly at him.

"Good! Come to papa tin heads." Konst snickered. "Saves me the trouble of hunting you down."

Jolly was trying to catch up with the three ships he spotted ahead of him. Though it was hard to see through all the smoke from his damaged instrument panels and the drying blood that had run into his eyes from the many cuts and gashes in his face from the monitor exploding, Jolly knew he was closing the gap. He wiped away the blood in his eyes again, trying to clear his vision. Most of the wounds had stopped bleeding but he was still a bit woozy, he had lost a fair amount of blood. After a moment, his vision seemed to clear up a bit. He could now see the three ships clearly, two vipers and a Cylon. One viper was badly damaged, looking as if only one engine was operating. The Cylon was firing wildly at the slow moving Colonial ship while the second viper was firing from extremely long range. Several more shots were fired by the viper, exploding just short of their mark. Now the Cylon began to make some quick, sharp turns away from the crippled ship. The trailing viper kept going for a few microns before it turned to pursue the Cylon. The damaged viper that had only moments before been in danger of being turned into a fireball was now making its way out of the danger zone. Jolly turned to follow the Cylon and the other viper since the damaged ship was safe for the moment.

Greenbean was doing everything he could to stay ahead of the Cylon fighter that was hot on his tail. His ship was in ruins. Two of his three engines had been destroyed, his comm system was out, most of his computer system was offline due to a lack of power and battle damage, it was a miracle his viper was able to move at all. He himself was in just as bad a condition as his viper. His left hand had been severely burned when he had to hold a wire in place in order to restart his viper's one remaining engine. The surge of electricity had turned his hand into a useless lump of charred flesh that he cradled in his lap as he pushed his ship beyond its limits. Somehow he had managed to avoid destruction by the relentlessly pursuing Cylon fighter that had been on his tail for what seemed like an eternity. Greenbean had danced his crippled viper to the left, the right, up, down, and every other way he could think of and that no other pilot could or would ever be able to duplicate. Another volley of laser fire exploded just to the right of his cockpit, how much longer could he keep this up he began to wonder.

Then it was suddenly silent!

Greenbean turned to his right, then his left, then back over his shoulder trying to find the relentless Cylon fighter that had been hounding him. He finally spotted it banking away to his left and accelerating away. Not understanding the reason his adversary was disengaging from the pursuit, Greenbean decided not to question his good fortune, but take this opportunity to get as far away as possible. So he straightened out his ship and pushed his engine to the hilt on what he hoped was the way home.

Konst and the Cylon were going head to head at an alarming speed. The young pilot was lining up the nose of his ship right on the Cylon. Konst would blast the Raider out of the stars or if necessary, he would ram the Cylon with his own ship, whatever it took to save his fellow warrior. He watched the range to target meter click down rapidly as both ships streaked toward each other. Even though Cylon ships had somewhat better range with their weapons, Cylon pilots were far less accurate then their human counterparts. Knowing this, Konst had to be ready to dodge the Cylons attack for the few microns it had the range advantage before he could bring his own weapons to bear. One wrong move or slight hesitation, and he'd never get off a shot. Just as they came into range, the Cylons began to fire. Konst rolled his viper to the right a micron before, causing the Cylons to miss. Then he reversed his roll and brought his own guns to bear. He was now in weapons range and ready to fire. Konst pressed the fire button on his joystick, unleashing the deadly laser bolts.

The Cylon made a move to avoid the laser blasts from the Colonial viper, but was a half micron too slow. The first shot glanced off the bottom of the Cylon fighter, causing it to flip several times. The next shot however was right on the mark, hitting the raider in the engines and knocking out all power to the ship. With their power gone, the Cylon ship began to drift to a slow stop. The three Cylons inside the raider were left with no way to restore power since both engines had been destroyed. Then in unison, they all three turned to "see" a single Colonial viper move up right next to them. It was no more then two metrons away; the human pilot was clearly visible to them. None of the three Cylons had ever seen a human up close before. They were surprised to find that the human was so small and fragile looking. The three followed the movement of the human ship as it slowly moved away from them and took up a position directly in front of them. Another Colonial viper moved up next to the first and came to a halt. The actions of the human pilots confused them and the lack of power to there weapons, communications and propulsion left them helpless.

Konst was pleasantly surprised to see Jolly's viper slide in next to him as he lined up on the Cylon fighter.

"Hey Jolly! Where you been?" Konst called on the ship to ship circuit. There was no reply. Konst moved his viper in closer to Jolly's to see why he wasn't answering. As he moved closer, the reason became clear to him. Jolly looked to be in pretty bad shape. His face and the front of his uniform were covered in dried blood and several large gashes were evident on his face and neck.

"Jolly, can you hear me?" Konst tried again to raise his comrade, but as before he received no response. He could see Jolly looking at him and he seemed to be conscious. Then he saw Jolly point to his helmet and shake his head, indicating he had no communications. Konst nodded his head and pointed toward the Cylon. Jolly nodded and made a hand gesture that said he would follow Konst's lead. With that, Konst tapped his turbos and moved in on the helpless Cylon fighter.

Inside the disabled Cylon ship, the pilots worked to restore power to their ship. The human pilot had not only knocked out both of their engines, but had also destroyed the reserve power cells. If they were not able to restart the engines, they would be totally defenseless against the humans. The Cylon commander "watched" as the two Colonial Vipers began to close the distance between them. There was no fear, no sense of impending doom for the Cylon commander or the two pilots. These were emotions, and Cylons were not programmed for emotions. There was however one thought that kept running through the commander's electronic brain........ How did the humans defeat them? There was no logical way they could have, but they did. The human had out maneuvered and out flown them. It had even found a way to negate the range advantage that the Cylons weapons had. It was inconceivable that this could happen, and yet, it had! And now it looked like the humans were going to finish the task. The Colonial ships moved in rapidly as the three Cylons looked on. Then several red flashes came from the human ships. One last thought came to the Cylon commander as it seen what was about to happen. It didn't understand why these two words came to its "mind", but they had, and as the laser bolts rushed in on the Cylon fighter, the commander absently vocalized these two words.

"OH FRAK!"

It was the last thing that the three Cylons would ever hear, as the laser blasts tore the Cylon ship to shreds. A micron latter, the Cylon fighter exploded in a brilliant fireball.

Jolly and Konst didn't slow down to see the light show that was the Cylon ship exploding, they hit their turbos and turned away, for they still had to warn the Galactica.


	3. Nightmare? Chapter 3

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter Three

On the bridge of the Galactica, Commander Adama stared at one of the monitors at the command console in total disbelief. He could not believe what he was seeing. Hundreds upon hundreds of Cylon fighters heading directly at them, there seemed to be no end to them. Then he looked at the monitor showing his squadrons of Vipers flying out to intercept the Cylon force. There were so few of them, just over a hundred, if that many. Could they really do anything to stop the Cylon attack? Would any of them even survive, outnumbered as they were? The odds were very much against them. Even the always optimistic Starbuck wouldn't chance them, if he had the choice but then there was the problem, they had no choice. Every warrior knew that this time they couldn't run. Adama could have ordered all ships to flank speed and tried to outrun the Cylons, but that would mean leaving those ships without FTL ability behind to be slaughtered. This was not an acceptable option.

"Commander, scanners show nearly one thousand Cylon fighters approaching." Lieutenant Omega said as he monitored the events as they unfolded. "Estimate five centons till our squadrons intercept the Cylon forces."

Adama nodded his head slowly as he looked out the huge view port of the Galactica bridge. "How long before Jolly's group is overtaken?" he asked.

Omega punched in a few commands on his console and the look on his face said it all.

"Sir, the lead elements of the Cylon attack force should be within range in seventy five microns."

At that very moment out in the cold, dark vacuum off space, Jolly, Konst, and Greenbean knew their time had run out. Laser fire from the pursuing Cylon attack force were beginning to hit closer and closer with each passing micron. Each warrior knew there was little chance of making it back to the Galactica. Konst kept trying to contact the Galactica, hoping to get some help.

"Patrol Two to Galactica. Come in please. Patrol Two to Galactica. Please acknowledge. We are under attack! We have the entire Cylon fleet heading this way. Request immediate assistance. Galactica, please acknowledge."

The desperate call for help was heard by nearly every member of the bridge crew. Tears streaked down the faces of several members as they listened to the terrified, yet professional voice of Ensign Konst. They all knew that help, though on the way, would not arrive in time to save the three brave young warriors. Commander Adama could see the faces of a few members of the bridge crew turn to him, seemingly pleading with him to do something to save the doomed patrol.

And them!

Adama switched on his comm unit and in a deep, calm voice, spoke to the frightened young pilot.

"Patrol Two, this is Commander Adama. All squadrons have been launched and are on their way. Use whatever means necessary to evade the Cylon forces. Help is on the way, you only need to hold on a few more centons."

"Commander, Jolly and Greenbean don't have a few more centons. There's only one way left for us." Ensign Konst said, his voice suddenly calm and full of determination.

Adama knew what the young warrior was about to do, and he also knew, that if he were in that same position, he might be doing the same exact thing. Adama closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, then in a voice that reflected such deep sorrow, he said into his comm unit, "Ensign Konst, all our prayers and the blessings of the Lords of Kobal are with you. Good luck warrior!" Adama then bowed his head and said a quick, silent prayer for a very brave young man.

With a new found determination, Ensign Konst hand signaled to Jolly and Greenbean to keep going. When they acknowledged, he closed his eyes and whispered to himself, "Lords give me the strength and skill to do now what must be done."

And with that, Konst hit his turbos and threw his viper into a hard left turn, the nose of his fighter swung around and accelerated directly into the heart of the Cylon attack force. Without realizing it, Konst had accidentally activated his comm unit, so everything he said was now being broadcast on an open channel. On the bridge of the Galactica as well as in the cockpits of every viper rushing to engage those very same Cylons, people sat and listened to a single brave warrior put up a fight that even the legendary Commander Cain would have envied. Konst dove straight into the fleet of Cylon fighters, firing at will. One Raider after another burst into fireballs in space as Konst relentlessly charged forward, reaping a path of destruction as he went.

On the comm line, those on the Galactica bridge and in the squadrons of approaching vipers heard Ensign Konst yelling challenges and curses at the inhuman foe he faced.

"Alright you galmonging pieces of junk, come and get me! That's right, lets see what you've got. Is that the best you can do? Come on you sorry tin cans, kill me if you can! Not so easy to kill when we fight back, are we? You murdered my best friend while he was helpless, well I'm not helpless and I'm going to blow every one of you rust buckets straight to Hades for what you did to Crader. That's right, come and get some of this. I've got plenty for all of you."

Konst's verbal assault continued without end as he pushed deeper and deeper into the Cylon host. He would have his vengeance on the Cylons for the murder of his friend. He would not be denied. He vowed to teach the Cylons something very alien to them..........

FEAR!

The unexpected attack by the lone Colonial Viper had caused a great deal of confusion in the orderly ranks of the Cylon attack phalanx. The front ranks began firing at the human ship almost immediately, but could not hit the bobbing and weaving viper. The Colonial ship however, had no problem destroying one Cylon ship after another since their formation caused them to "overlap" in his sights, so even if one ship avoided being hit, the one behind would get zapped. As Konst continued forward, cutting a path through the Cylons, more and more of them moved in to try and get a shot at him. This had a very interesting effect. The Cylon pilots became so focused on the Colonial Viper that they began to get in each others way. This resulted in dozens of Raiders colliding, causing a domino effect as damaged ships would careen out of control and collide with still more ships or they would get into the line of fire of those ships behind them and inadvertently be blown out of existence by their own ships. In fact, for every Cylon that Konst destroyed, three more were destroyed by poor flying or "friendly fire". Either way, Konst was doing exactly what he had set out to do, to slow down the Cylon advance long enough for Jolly and Greenbean to escape.

Konst continued to weave his way through the hordes of Cylon fighters, destroying scores of them as he went. He had no plan. He was simply flying on some unknown instinct. So when he broke through the waves of Cylon fighters into open space, he had no idea where he was or what had just happened. All he could do was mumble to himself was, "I'm still alive!"

Then he saw what lay ahead of him, and his blood seemed to have froze in his veins. Three baseships were bearing down on him.

"Holy frak!" Konst whispered as he decided that a single viper was no match for three baseships. So Konst hit the turbos again and turned his viper around and dove back into the rear echelons of the Cylon fleet.

c


	4. Nightmare? Chapter 4

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter Four

Soaring through the darkness of space, the squadrons of the Battlestar Galactica continued forward toward what was sure to be a fierce and brutal battle with an enemy they knew would give no quarter, nor show any mercy. This would be a struggle not just of life and death, but for the right of an entire race, the human race, to exist.

Captain Apollo, the strike leader for the Galactica was in his customary lead position. Like every other warrior, he felt the total helplessness and frustration of the situation. He knew that his meager forces, just over a hundred vipers, were going to be outnumbered again. They had been so since long before the destruction of their home worlds three yahren ago. But this time it seemed there was no way around an all out, winner take all battle. The telemetry being sent to his viper from the scanners of the Galactica told a very grim tale. What looked to be nearly a thousand Cylon fighters were closing on their position, backed up it would seem by at least three baseships. This was almost a repeat of what they faced at Gammory some two yahren before. Only this time it was highly unlikely that the Pegasus would show up and save the day.

This time, they were on their own!

As if that was not enough, three of his pilots were about to be swallowed up be the incoming Cylon attack force. Two of those pilots, Lieutenant Jolly and Flight Sergeant Greenbean were good friends. Not that he was not as concerned about the third pilot, Ensign Konst, but he had flown with Jolly and Greenbean for a number of yahren as members of Blue Squadron where as Konst was one of the few survivors from the Battlestar Acropolis, when she was destroyed along with the rest of the fleet at Cimtar. Apollo believed he would never see his friends again. In truth, only a miracle could save them.

All of them!

Apollo watched his scanner intently as the Cylon forces closed on the three Colonial Vipers. The distance between them was diminishing by the micron.

"They're not going to make it, are they Apollo?" his wingman and best friend, Lieutenant Starbuck asked rather sadly.

Apollo glanced over at his friend's viper, just off his right wing, and said, "I wish I could say they would, but I don't see how they can." He said.

Switching from his ship to ship frequency to the viper attack frequency, Apollo spoke to his disheartened troops. "Flight leader to all squadrons, I know how you all feel. I wish there was something we could do for our fellow warriors, but we can't. All we can do is make sure that their sacrifice was not in vain. We can't save them, but we do have a lot of people depending on us to protect them. So lets hit them fast and hit them hard! Watch your tails and those of your wingmates. Watch your fuel so you don't run out. Lets make this battle one for the history books! Five centons to intercept."

It was at that moment that Apollo saw one of the vipers on his scanner pull a full speed turn and head directly back into the Cylon formation.

"Apollo, did you see that? What in Sagen's name is he doing?" Starbuck exclaimed in total disbelief.

"I don't have a clue Starbuck. It has to be Konst, the other two vipers are moving too slow." Apollo answered.

"Konst must have decided it would be better go down fighting then to take one in the exhaust," Boomer said. "Gutsy move!"

"Hey guy's, listen to channel four! It's Konst!" the excited voice of Lieutenant Sheba chimed in. All the other pilots switched over to channel four, which was the frequency that all patrols used. Now all the pilots of the Galactica were listening to Ensign Konst as he attacked the Cylon fleet alone. What they heard filled their hearts, each and every one of them, with a kind of pride and courage that none of them had ever felt before.

"Come on you good for nothing, god forsaken, soulless, rusted out, refuse yard rejects! Let's see how many of you I can take out before you get me." They heard Konst yelling at the Cylons. They continued to listen as Konst went on with his assault, both physical and verbal, on the Cylons. "I'll make you pay for what you did to us. Yea! Take that you stinking rust buckets. That's it, come and get me if you can. That's it. Keep coming, I got plenty more where that came from! There's enough for every last one of you. Yea! That was for the Acropolis! And that's for the Solaira! This ones for the Atlantia! Here some for the colonies! Oh Yea! Bring it on, I'm ready for you! YYYYEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!"

Then there was a brief silence, broken only by the sound of heavy breathing. Then, in a voice that was little more then a whisper he said, "I'm still alive!"

With that, every viper pilot let out a huge cheer and doubled their resolve to beat back this attack....... No matter what the cost!

Apollo had been watching his scanner the whole time as he listened to Ensign Konst's amazing flight. What seemed at first to be a suicidal attack, had in fact caused a great deal of damage and confusion amongst the orderly formation of Cylon fighters, at least in the center of the formation. Konst had destroyed at least two score of Cylon fighters himself while another four or five score were disabled or destroyed by their own ships as they tried to get at him. With so much confusion at the center of the Cylon formation, Apollo believed his small force could split the huge Cylon fleet in half, making it easier to defeat them.

"Flight leader to all squadrons, form up in wedge formation. Blue Squadron will take the point, Red Squadron, take position on my right, Silver Spar, you're on the left. We'll go right down the middle of their formation, right where Konst went through. If he could cause that much havoc with just one viper, imagine what a hundred of them could do!"

Just then, two very badly damaged vipers came into view directly ahead of the Colonial strike force. Both ships had extensive external damage and were flying at extremely slow speed.

"Its Jolly and Greenbean!" Giles called out.

"Lords of Kobal, how is Greenbean's viper still in one piece? The number one engine is totally gone!" Starbuck said in amazement.

As the two damaged vipers got closer, it became evident that their friends were badly injured. Apollo hit his turbos and jumped ahead to rendezvous with the two wounded pilots. When he pulled his viper in between the two of them, for a moment, he was unsure that either man was still alive. Jolly's head was tilted back against the head rest of his seat; his face and the front of his uniform were covered in blood. Apollo tried to get his attention by firing his lasers. This brought Jolly back to awareness and even made the corpulent warrior smile weakly. Then Apollo looked over at Greenbean. He seemed to be slumped over to his left and leaning forward. At the sound of Apollo's lasers, his head came up and the pain on his face made it obvious that he too was in bad shape. Apollo gave them both a thumbs up signal and signaled them to keep going. Each of them acknowledged him and kept going.

Apollo got on the comm system and called Ensign Colla. "Colla, I need you to escort Jolly and Greenbean back to the Galactica. Advise them that both men have badly damaged ships, no communications, and are severely injured. Tell them you don't know if they will be able to land without assistance. You got all that Ensign?"

"Yes sir! I got it." Replied the young pilot. "I'll get them back safe sir."

"I'm sure you will" Apollo said. "When you're finished with that, report to Colonel Tigh for assignment."

"Yes sir." Colla said. "Good hunting sir!"

With that the young pilot broke formation and turned back to join up with the two damaged vipers.

Apollo watched Colla's viper turn back and wondered if Jolly and Greenbean would make it back in one piece. Then the voice of Starbuck brought him back to the task at hand.

"Hey Apollo, I hate to bother you right now, but we've got company!"

Starbuck had a gift for understating the obvious, Apollo thought to himself, as the Cylon attack force came into view.

"Alright, all squadrons move into wedge formation. Let's plow right through them!" Apollo told his people. "When we come out the other side of the formation, break off into two's and go hunting. Whatever you do, do not engage those baseships until we cut down some of these fighters, otherwise the Galactica won't stand a chance. Any questions?"

No one made a sound.

"Alright then, here we go!"

And as if of a single mind, every one of the Colonial ships went to full turbo. The large formation of ships, now forming a huge wedge, accelerated toward the center of the Cylon fleet. The Cylons opened fire first, scoring only a couple of hits and only one viper destroyed. A few microns later, the Colonial forces opened fire as one. The massed fire of the humans was devastating as the wedge struck the Cylon center. With so many Cylon ships to shoot at, it was hard to miss. But this was both an advantage and a detriment. The vipers were clearing a wide path through the Cylon formation, but like trying to dig a hole in water. You can shovel the water away, but it will always flow back. This is what was happening with the Cylons. As the human formation made its way deeper into the Cylon formation, those Raiders from the flanking formations were filling in behind the humans and reaping havoc on the trailing vipers.

Apollo and the rest of Blue Squadron were slicing a huge path through the Cylon fleet. Hundreds of Raiders were being destroyed as the massed fire worked to perfection. But then came the calls from the ships near the rear of the formation, calls for help and the screams of pilots being blown to bits by pursuing Cylons.

"Apollo, we're losing a lot of people at the rear of the formation." called Lieutenant Bojay, commander of Silver Spar Squadron. "I've lost eight people already. We need to break off now!"

Apollo was about to answer him when he saw the flash of a viper heading the opposite direction, lasers blazing. Just as fast as he saw it, the viper was gone. Then there was no more Cylons to shoot at. He had broken through the rear of the Cylon attack formation and was now in the clear. He immediately got on the comm system.

"We've made it through, now all squadrons break off and attack at will." Apollo ordered.

With that, pairs of vipers broke off in all directions and turned back toward the pursuing Cylons. Hundreds of Cylon fighters had been crippled or destroyed in the Colonial attack, but the losses to the humans was very high as well. Twenty seven out of the one hundred fifteen Colonial Vipers had been destroyed in the first engagement.

It was to get much worse in a hurry!

As the Colonial Vipers began splitting of into their battle pairings, they were immediately assaulted by scores of Cylon fighters that had been in pursuit and now had the advantage of position, being behind their human foe. Vipers were being attacked by groups of Cylon fighters before they could bring their own lasers to bear. The battle frequency was overwhelmed with the cries for help as one after another, vipers came under attack.

"I've got six of them on my tail! I need some help here! Is anyone clear to assist?" Brie yelled into the comm system.

"Hang on Brie, I'm on my way." Said Giles as he swung around to help his fellow warrior, not realizing that he had three Cylons on his tail getting ready to attack. Giles was almost in position to fire when the three Cylons opened up on him. He was able to avoid their first volley of laser fire, but he had no place to go to get away from the next round. His viper became a massive fireball at almost the same instant as Lieutenant Brie's.

Lieutenant Deitra had heard her friends call for help; she was in a bit of trouble herself. She had six Cylons of her own to deal with. Deitra was turning and twisting her viper in ways that would have made their designers cringe. She had no choice but to push her viper to the limit, to do less would mean instant death. She was doing everything she could to find a way to escape her pursuers but was unable to shake them. She began a series of hard banking turns, hoping she could turn inside the pack of Cylons behind her. Unfortunately, the Cylons were spaced out behind her so even though she was able to get in side the nearest pursuer, those that were holding back were able to turn with her and take her head on. Seeing this, Deitra came out of her turn firing. She was able to hit two of her antagonists as she flew through them, but the third one was able to avoid her attack.

"FRAK!" she yelled as the third ship flew by only a few metrons away from her.

She went into another series of turns, trying to get position on the other three ships that were after her. She came out of her turns going head to head with the second group of three Raiders and immediately opened fire. She was rewarded with a quick kill on the lead ship with the first volley and a glancing hit on another ship, causing it to veer off to the left, out of control and on fire. Deitra had no time to celebrate though because as she came out of that engagement, she found herself nose to nose with yet another Cylon. There was no time for her to think, she simply reacted on instinct and threw her viper into a hard right turn and began to roll away from the Cylon fighter.

This unfortunately was not enough.

The Cylon opened fire before Deitra was able to react and scored a glancing hit on her left side stabilator. This caused her to momentarily lose control and stall her engines. She was still rolling out of control as she fought to restart the engines of her viper. Warning lights lit up all over her panel as she set her switches to their start up positions and hit the igniter switch. She was rewarded with the sweet sound of all three engines roaring back to life. Deitra was able to bring her viper under control, with a bit of effort. Now that she had control back, she had to locate those Cylon fighters. She began to visually scan the area, but it was already too late.

The two remaining Cylon fighters had already completed their turns and had closed in on the wildly spinning Colonial Viper. As the human pilot regained control of the craft, the nearest Cylon ship opened fire. The explosion lasted only a moment and then was gone, taking with it the promising career of the young warrior inside it.

Ensign Cree and Flight Sergeant Barton were in the midst of a large group of Cylons, when they seen Deitra's viper blow up. There had been nothing they could do seeing as they were trying their best not to join her. Barton was on the tail of a group of three Cylons with Cree just a bit behind and to his right. Four more Cylons were maneuvering into a position behind the two Colonials.

"Come on Barton, take the shot. We have company on our rear ends." Cree said to his wingmate.

"I'm almost there! Give me just one more centon and I'll have them." Barton replied.

"We don't have a centon! Take the shot so we can get out of here." Cree said nervously as he watched the Cylon fighters circling in behind them.

"Say good bye tin cans!" Barton said as he hit the fire button on his joystick. Several lances of laser energy shot forward from his ship. His aim was true, despite the distance, as two of the three Cylons turned into fireballs far ahead of him. He watched for a moment as the third Cylon veered off to the right. Barton had a thought to go after the third ship, but Cree's yell on the comm system brought his attention to other matters.

"Barton, break left! Break left! We got six of them on our tails. We have to move now!" Cree yelled at his partner.

With out delay, Barton acknowledged his wingmate and threw his ship into a sharp left turn. Cree stayed right with him as laser blasts began to explode all around them. With turbos going full ahead, the two vipers opened up the distance between themselves and their pursuers. Once they were out of range, the two warriors did a one-eighty and charged back into the fray, head on with the six Cylons that had continued to chase them. The Cylon fighters began firing first; using their superior range to try and score a lucky hit on the fast approaching vipers. The two human pilots were more then up for the challenge as they easily dodged the long range shots. Once they were in range, Barton and Cree began to return fire. As was usually the case, the Colonial warriors proved to be the better shots, as they each scored a kill with their first volleys. The four remaining Cylons continued their massed fire on the fast approaching humans. Barton was lining up another round when his viper suddenly began to shake violently. He'd been hit! He pulled the joystick hard to the left and hit his turbos. The warning lights for his number two engine were flashing, indicating he had lost that engine. He looked back over his shoulder and sure enough, half of the engine had been blown away. He hit the button to his comm link to let Cree know he was hit.

"Hey Cree, I'm hit! They took out my number two engine."

Cree looked over at his partner's ship and could see sparks trailing from the other side of his ship.

"Yea, I can see sparks flying. We need to get you back to the Galactica. Think you can make back?" Cree asked.

"Yea, I think so, as long as those damn tin cans don't hit me again." Barton said. "Let's get out of here."

"Right beside you." Cree replied.

With that, the two vipers turned away from the battle and made a run for the Galactica. A group of four Cylon fighters broke away from the fray and began to pursue the two vipers. With a damaged engine slowing Barton down, it didn't take long for the Cylons to catch up and renew the attack. Barton and Cree began evasive maneuvers, twisting and turning to avoid the heavy laser fire. Things were not looking good as laser blasts exploded all around them. Barton looked over his shoulder, seeing the Cylon fighters closing in on them.

"Cree, I can't out run them. They're coming in too fast. Get out of here before it's too late."

"No way pal, we stick together." Cree said.

"Cree don't be stupid! Barton yelled into his comm unit. "There's no way I'm going to make it, now get out of here!"

"Listen, you just keep pushing that thing to the max and leave those Cylons to me!" Cree told his wingmate.

Then without another word, Cree hit his reverse thrusters and breaking flaps, coming to a dead stop in space. The pursuing Cylons were traveling too fast to even take a shot at the now stationary viper as they flew past. Two of the Cylon ships veered off in an attempt to attack the stopped viper while the other two continued to close on the wounded Colonial Viper.

Cree hit his turbos as soon as the four Cylon fighters over flew him and began to chase the two that continued after Barton's viper. He closed on the quickly and lined up the first one in his sights. He pressed the fire button on his joystick, unleashing a double dose of laser fire at his target. The first shot was just a smidgen off the mark, but the second volley was right on, striking dead center of the doomed ship. It exploded in a huge fireball that burned out as fast as it started. Cree was already lining up the second ship before the first one had quit burning. He was almost in position.

"Come on you rusted out scrap heap, just a little more to the right and....." Cree said to himself.

The Cylon slid just a bit to the right as if by Cree's request. He locked on to the Cylon fighter and pressed the fire button. He was just a half micron too late.

At the same moment Cree was pushing his fire control button, the Cylon commander was doing the exact same thing. Deadly blue laser blast's leaped from the Cylon ship just before it was struck by the red laser bolts from Cree's viper. The Cylon ship was struck on the right outer edge and the right engine. The ship immediately began to spin out of control, ripping itself apart. Then it went up in a blaze of fire.

Cree had taken out both of the Cylons chasing Barton, but it wasn't enough. The second Cylon was able to get off several volleys before being destroyed. Cree watched as the blue laser bolts sailed off into the dark, right at Barton.

"Barton, roll out! Roll out now!" Cree yelled into the comm unit.

He was too late.

Barton's viper began a roll to the left, but before it could move more then a metron, it was hit squarely in the number one engine and the aft fuselage. The viper flipped over twice, the engine burning from the broken fuel lines. Cree heard Barton yell in pain as the fire moved forward into the cockpit. The cries of pain stopped as the viper exploded.

"NOOOO!!!!! Lords of Kobal, no!" Cree yelled in anguish at seeing his friend killed. He hung his head in grief, believing he had failed his friend. His guilt would be short lived however. At that moment, the two remaining Cylon fighters had moved in behind Cree. He never felt anything as the two Cylon ships opened fire at the same time, turning Cree's viper to atoms. Then they turned around and headed back to the battle to reap more death on the humans.

Apollo was not having what could be called a fun day by any standard. He was currently engaged with no less then eight Cylons and was having no luck in getting away from them.

"Starbuck, where are you? I need help over here." He said into his comm unit.

"I'm a little busy myself. I've got a dozen of our friends trying to vaporize me." Came Starbucks tense reply.

"Hang on Apollo, I'm almost there." The voice of Lieutenant Sheba said.

"You better hurry Sheba; I don't know how much longer I can avoid them." Apollo told her.

"I'm right on their tails; let's see how they like being shot at." Sheba quipped.

Laser fire erupted from Sheba's viper as she strafed the pack of Cylons that were in hot pursuit of Apollo. She got hits on four of them before they even realized they were under attack. They split up, two veering right, the other two to the left. Apollo was now in the clear. Inside his cockpit, he let out a long sigh of relief then he turned to see Sheba's viper pull up next to his. He could see her smiling at him and couldn't help but return the smile.

"Thanks for the help. It didn't look all too good there for a centon." Apollo said.

"My pleasure! I couldn't very well let them blow my favorite viper pilot out of the stars could I?" Sheba said with a sly smile.

Apollo shook his head and laughed, but to light hearted moment didn't last long as the frightened voice of Starbuck came through the comm system.

"I hate to interrupt you two in such a touching moment, but I could really use some help here. I still got eight or nine Cylons on my tail."

Apollo and Sheba both frowned, as they realized that while they were off flirting, the rest of their friends were fighting for there lives and in need of their help.

"I'm on my way. Where are you Starbuck?" Apollo asked his friend.

"How the frak should I know! Just look for the viper with every Cylon in the galaxy chasing it. That'll be me." Starbuck said irritably.

Apollo was about to say something when he spotted Starbuck's viper. He was being chased by no less then a score of Cylons now, all taking pot shots at him from a distance. He and Sheba hit their turbos and fell in behind the Cylon ships. Both warriors began to fire as soon as they came into range and were successful in destroying nearly half those pursuing Starbuck before the Cylons realized they were under attack. Half a dozen Cylons broke off their pursuit of Starbuck and began trying to get behind Apollo and Sheba. This gave the two Colonial warriors the chance they needed as it opened up a clear path to those Cylons nearest Starbuck. Apollo and Sheba moved up fast and began firing, taking out four more Cylons with their first few shots. The last two Cylons veered off to avoid the fate that had befallen their comrades. Starbucks tail was now clear of Cylons.

"Thanks you two, you got here just in time." Starbuck said, the relief in his voice obvious.

"Glad to be of help, but we have another problem now. I'm getting low on fuel, so I know the rest of our people have to be low too." Apollo said.

"I'm down to less then a quarter." Sheba said.

"I wish I had that much." Chimed in Starbuck, his humor beginning to return.

Looking around them, Apollo could see very few ships of either side near by. He knew that his people could not have taken out all of the Cylons, there were far too many of them. So where did they all go? Then a frightening thought came to him.

Flight leader to Galactica, come in please. Flight leader to Galactica, please acknowledge!" Apollo said trying to raise the Galactica.

Nothing but static answered him.

"What is it Apollo?" asked Starbuck.

"I can't raise the Galactica. All I get is static, like we're being jammed." Apollo said.

"Didn't Konst say something about being jammed?" Sheba asked.

"That's right, he did. But why aren't we being jammed here?" Starbuck said.

"Unless......" Apollo said, realizing why the jamming had stopped. "The Cylons have moved on to the Galactica. We have to reform the squadrons and make our way back before it's too late."

So Apollo put the call out to disengage and reform on his position. To his shock and horror, less then twenty vipers out of what was one hundred seventeen answered the recall. His heart sank as he thought of all the fine warriors that had perished that day. He would grieve for them later; there was no time to now. They had to get back to the Galactica before it was too late. And so, nineteen vipers, some with battle damage and all low on fuel, set off for what could very well be their last battle.


	5. Nightmare? Chapter 5

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter Five

On the bridge of the Galactica, a very stoic Commander Adama stared at the monitors as the three squadrons of vipers streaked off to do battle against a far superior Cylon force. Though he would never say it, he knew deep down that it was highly unlikely that they would prevail. There were just too many Cylons this time. All he could hope to do is give the fleet a chance to escape while the Galactica when forth to face whatever fate the gods had laid out for them. Adama turned to his executive officer, Colonel Tigh, and gave him the order to change course.

"Colonel, I want to change course to Sigma one seven immediately. Hold that course for 10 centons, and then come to course Theta zero six, ahead flank. Also, I want you to send a message to the fleet. Have them hold at the rendezvous point for no more then one secton. After that they are to proceed as best they can along our Epsilon twenty two heading."

"Aye commander." Tigh replied as he passed the orders along.

The commander could feel the giant battlestar begin to accelerate as it turned to its new course. By changing course, hoped to come in on the approaching baseships from an unlikely direction, perhaps stay on their flanks so they wouldn't be able to surround them. It might also confuse them as to which direction the fleet had gone off in. He could only hope.

"Message to the fleet has been sent and acknowledged commander." Tigh informed his C.O.

"Thank you Colonel. Hopefully, we'll be there to join them shortly." Adama said without much conviction.

"Commander!" Omega's voice interrupted. "Captain Apollo reports Jolly and Greenbean have made it to them and are on their way back to the Galactica with Ensign Colla as escort."

Adama felt a slight relief at this news. He immediately ordered Tigh to send Colla course instructions to rendezvous with them via the secured viper frequency. The message was sent and acknowledged.

"Good! Have med techs standing by in Alpha landing bay to take care of Jolly and Greenbean, and have someone go down to the life center and see if they can get anymore information about this Cylon attack force we're facing." Adama said to Omega, who passed the orders on.

After a few centons, Lieutenant Athena at the long range scanner station began picking up Jolly's group heading in. Adama watched as the three small craft approached slowly. Then Athena began to pick up a signal from Colla.

"Colla to Galactica, I'm in route with Jolly and Greenbean. Both ships are badly damaged and the pilots injured. Request med teams and Crash and Rescue stand by."

"Everything is in position." Athena said "You're cleared to land in Alpha landing bay. Good luck!"

"Thanks! I'll have Jolly come in first, and then Greenbean since his viper is in worse shape. I'll follow once they're down." Colla said.

"Roger that!" Athena confirmed.

Colla waved over at Jolly to get his attention. Using hand signals, he let Jolly know he was to go first. So Jolly accelerated ahead of the other two and made his approach. He was beginning to feel dizzy and a bit light headed from shock and the loss of blood. His approach was a little shaky, but he was able to put his viper on the deck without crashing and stopped just before he reached the safety barrier. Jolly had just enough alertness left to pop his canopy and shut down his engines before he lost conciseness. The med techs were climbing onto the ship even before the canopy was fully open. After a quick check of Jolly's vital signs, the tech stood aside so the landing bay crew could pull him from his ship and load him into a biobed. The tech then accompanied Jolly to the life center.

As all that was going on, Colla had indicated to Greenbean that he would be landing next. Greenbean was in much worse shape then anyone could tell just from looking at him. Not only was his left hand burnt beyond use, but the electrical shock he took from restarting his remaining engine had done immeasurable damage to his internal organs. His heart had suffered severe damage, and his liver had literally been "cooked" inside him. He was in such agony, it was a miracle that he was still alive, let alone flying his viper in for a landing. He began his approach, drifting first to the right, then to the left, his reactions were very sluggish. He was finally able to get lined up with the centerline and make his final approach. His vision was very blurry and he began to sweat profusely. Just as his viper crossed the threshold of the landing bay, Greenbean cut the power to his overworked engine and glided onto the runway. His viper slammed down hard on the deck, bounced, hit again, this time collapsing the front landing gear and began sliding the length of the bay toward the safety barricade. Sparks flew in every direction as the broken and battered ship slide to a stop less then a metron from the barricade.

Crash and Rescue personal moved in immediately, spraying fire suppressant foam onto the smoking wreckage of Greenbean's viper. Another pair of rescue workers dressed in silver "HOT SUITS" made their way to the cockpit. They had to pry the canopy open and then cut the safety harness off the unconscious pilot. As gently as they could, they lifted the badly injured man out of the cockpit and passed him down to several other members of the rescue team, who in turn carried him over to the waiting med tech. After a quick check of Greenbean's vital signs, the med tech and his assistants rolled Greenbean out of the bay and straight to the Life Center.

Ensign Colla was diverted to land in Beta landing bay while work crews worked to remove the wreckage from Greenbean's viper and the firefighting equipment. He was immediately ordered to the bridge to report on the status of the two pilots and what they faced as far as the Cylons were concerned. As he entered the bridge, Colonel Tigh waved him over to the star chart where he and Commander Adama were looking over the situation.

"How are Jolly and Greenbean doing Ensign?" Tigh asked the young man.

"Not good sir! Jolly was covered in blood from facial wounds and Greenbean looked to be in pretty bad shape too." Colla reported. "I couldn't tell what kind of injuries he had, but he was slumped over to his left side the whole time. His viper was shot to Hades!"

Tigh looked at Adama, who stood listening to the young pilots report. Then Tigh ask about the Cylons.

"What can you tell us about the Cylon attack force? Could you confirm how many baseships they had or what course they were on?"

"No sir, I never picked up the baseships on my scanner. I was at the rear of the formation so I never came within range of them. I did scan close to a thousand fighters on a Lambda 18 course." Colla said.

Adama turned his attention to the star chart on the huge glass board where they stood; running his finger over the chart till he reached the position Ensign Colla had given. He ran his finger back along the course Colla said they were on and then circled an area a short distance away.

"I think the Cylon baseships will be in this area somewhere Colonel." Adama stated. "Cylons rarely fly anything other then a straight line course."

"If that's the case, then with the course change you ordered, we could very well come in behind them." Tigh said, a slight smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

"My plan exactly! The Cylon baseships should be running with all of their scanners facing forward, not behind them." Adama said, now grinning slightly himself. "With a bit of luck, we should be able to take out one, maybe even two of them before they have a chance to counterattack."

"And with all their fighters off engaging our squadrons, they won't be able to defend themselves." Tigh added.

"Well, that's not entirely true Colonel!" Adama said. "They still have their pulsars and missiles. No, they are far from helpless. But they are beatable! Remember that baseship we destroyed ten sectars ago."

"True Adama, but remember, that was a single baseship." Tigh said. "They had no idea we were anywhere around, and we had to send Apollo and Starbuck aboard the baseship to destroy their scanners just so we could get the first strike. We won't have those things working for us this time."

Adama slowly nodded his head as he thought about what his friend had just said. Then he said to the Colonel, "That is very true Colonel, but I believe that the Cylons will be focused on looking for us here," he said pointing at a spot on the star chart "not coming in from here," pointing at a place behind where he thought the Cylon baseships were "at light speed."

"Light speed! Are you sure about that Adama? We haven't run at that speed for quite some time now. It could be dangerous."

Adama smiled at his exec and said, "Fighting Cylons is always risky business. I think the risk is well worth it if the results are there. We have little choice Colonel. We need to come in at light speed, drop to attack speed just before we come into range for an all out missile attack, then immediately go to light speed again."

Tigh folded his arms across his chest, tilted his head slightly to on side, and with a small, knowing smile asked, "Have you been reading those tactical books of Cain's again Commander?"

Adama returned the smile and said, "There is a great deal of wisdom to be found in books other then the Book of the Word Tigh. I only pray that we can pull it off. If we fail, the human race may be doomed."

"Excuse me sirs, what do you want me to do?" Ensign Colla asked somewhat shyly.

Adama and Tigh turned around together to see the young warrior still standing there behind them. They had both totally forgot he was there.

"I must be getting forgetful in my old age!" Adama thought to himself. "What orders did Captain Apollo give you?"

"His orders were to report to you after escorting Jolly and Greenbean back for further instructions, sir"

Adama nodded his head, and then said to the young pilot, "Report to Beta landing bay and find Lieutenant Kolbe of Green Squadron. Tell him you've been assigned to his group until further notice."

"Yes sir!" Colla said as he snapped to attention, then turned and departed.

Tigh and Adama both smiled and shook their heads.

"Were we ever that young Adama?" Tigh asked.

"No my friend, we weren't! We were younger!" Adama said.

With that, the two men turned back to the star chart and continued their planning.

Deep in the bowels of the great battlestar, the Life Center was a hive of activity. Med techs and doctors moved around in a chaotic dance, getting everything ready for the many casualties that always accompanied a battle with the Cylons. In the middle of the chaos, giving directions to the many staff members was Dr. Salik, the chief medical officer of the Galactica. Standing next to him was his senior med tech, Cassiopeia. They were awaiting the arrival of the two viper pilots that had just landed. From the initial reports from the landing bay med techs, both were in serious condition. Dr. Salik knew that these two would only be the first of many this day.

At that moment, the Life Center door swished open and three men pushing a biobed rolled in at a near dead run. One of the men was riding on a side rail on the biobed performing CPR on the beds occupant. Dr. Salik ordered them into one of the treatment cubicles and he and Cassiopeia followed. The bed was rolled into position and the wheels were magnetically locked in place to keep it from rolling around by one of the techs while another tech connected a cable to the bed from the floor to provide power to the scanning instruments of the bed. The med tech doing CPR stepped away as the bed automatically took over the life support for Jolly.

"What are his vitals?" Salik called to Cassie.

"Pulse sixty, respirations twelve, blood pressure eighty-two over fifty-six, brainwave activity minus two." She reported.

Dr. Salik picked up an old style bladed scalpel and cut away Jolly's uniform jacket and shirt. The med techs had already removed his helmet, revealing a score of ugly cuts and gashes all over his face and neck, most of which had stopped bleeding. As the doctor cut away the uniform, more and more wounds were uncovered, including a large one to the left side of his chest.

"Give me a laser scalpel and forceps." Salik ordered.

Cassiopeia handed the doctor the requested items while another med tech administered an anesthetic to Jolly. With a steady hand, the doctor used the laser scalpel to open the large chest wound up.

"Retract that for me." He said to Cassiopeia.

Cassie opened the wound wider with a small retractor, giving the doctor a better view of the wound. Using the forceps, Salik removed a shard of glass the size of a child's hand from the wound. Doctor Salik looked at the medical scanner on the biobed. Satisfied that Jolly was out of immediate danger; he detailed Doctor Paye to finish cleaning and closing the wound and tending to the lesser wounds on Jolly's face and neck.

As he finished with Jolly, another biobed was rolled in, this on carried Greenbean. It was immediately apparent the he was in critical condition. He was bleeding from a number of cuts received in his crash landing only centons before. Both his legs seemed to be lying at unnatural angles, the result of the crash or perhaps the rescue, it was hard to tell. Doctor Salik looked at the medical scanner and what it showed was frightful. Greenbean was showing greatly diminished breathing, heart arrhythmia, multiple seizures, and very erratic brain activity. His left hand was nothing more then a charred lump, three of the fingers were burned completely away. Doctor Salik was surprised he was still alive considering the extent of his injuries. He had the med techs wheel him into the quarantine area of the Life Center where they could work on him out of sight of any other patients that came in.

Cassiopeia looked at the sad expression of the doctors face and asked, "What should we do for him doctor"

Doctor Salik stuck his hands into the pockets of his smock and shook his head slowly. "There's nothing we can do Cassiopeia. His injuries are far too severe for any treatment to heal. All we can hope to do for him is make him as comfortable as possible and keep him sedated."

Cassie nodded her head and placed a hand on the doctor's arm. "You can't save everyone doctor. Sometimes people are going to die, no matter how hard we try to keep that from happening." She told him, trying to console her friend and mentor.

He grimaced a bit and patted her hand. "Your right, but it doesn't mean I have to like it, or that I'm not going to try and save them all."

"And I'll be there all the way." She said with a smile. Then she turned and left the doctor to his own thoughts.


	6. Nightmare? Chapter 6

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter Six

The dark, cold, blackness of space stretched out before him as far as his eyes could reach. Even though his life support system was working fine, he found himself bathed in sweat. It was not the sweat one excreted from physical exertion or extreme heat; it was the cold sweat of fear! Apollo had every reason to fear at that moment as he and the members of the Galactica's strike wing had engaged a huge attack force of Cylon fighters less then a centar before. The battle had been brutal as both sides took the full measure of the other. Many good pilots had been killed that day……Giles, Deitra, Cree, Barton, Brie, Crader, and so many others. Ninety eight warriors in all. Apollo had a difficult time accepting such a great loss. But his fear was not from what had already happened, but from what he believed was happening now. While trying to stay alive in the fierce battle that had claimed so many warriors, Apollo had lost tract of where all of the Cylon forces were. After finding a place of relative calm in the battle zone, Apollo noticed that most of the Cylon attack wave had continued on instead of engaging the Galactica's squadrons. So now, with what few remaining vipers he could muster, a mere nineteen in all, Apollo was trying to overtake the Cylon forces and do whatever he could to protect the Galactica and what remained of the human race.

Flying next to Apollo, as always, was his wingmate and best friend, Starbuck. "Hey Apollo, I hate to bring this up at a time like this, but my low fuel lamp just came on."

"Mine came on a few centons ago Apollo." Added Lieutenant Boomer, leader of the Galactica's Red Squadron and the constant companion to Apollo and Starbuck. "I'm flying on solium vapors now."

Apollo looked down at his own fuel gauges and saw that his low fuel indicator was burning bright too. This light came on when a viper's fuel reached a level allowing twenty centons of flight time. With nearly every pilots light showing, Apollo knew that they would have to land and refuel before they could rejoin the battle. This did not bode well for the Galactica since she only had two squadrons left to defend herself. But there was little else he could do; they would be of no use to the Galactica if they ran out of fuel in the middle of the battle. Making the only decision he could, Apollo told the remaining members of his strike wing to land and refuel as soon as they rendezvoused with the Galactica.

Apollo's attention was drawn to a group of flashing lights in the distance. Laser fire. It looked like the battle for the Galactica had begun. Now the question was, could he and his small band of survivors get there, land, refuel, launch, and mount any kind of counterattack before the Galactica was destroyed? Apollo figured that all he could do was try.

"There they are! Looks like Green and Orange Squadrons have already engaged them." Apollo said over the viper channel. "We'll go in as planned, land, do a "Hot Refueling", and then launch and join the fray. Don't waste time trying to move to the launch tubes, just launch out the landing bay. I want everyone back in action in five centons from the time we land. Understood?"

"I guess I won't have time to use the turboflush then!" Starbuck quipped.

"I doubt it." Was all Apollo said, though he was smiling at the attempt his friend was making to keep the other members of the wing relaxed.

On the bridge of the Galactica, Lieutenant Omega kept vigil on the scanners. Since changing course, they had lost contact with the Cylon attack fleet and their own squadrons and had received very little information from the battle zone. They had been running silent since they changed course and had gone to light speed to get behind the Cylon baseships which would make it impossible to pick up the transmissions from their vipers. Omega saw a small blip come up on the long range scanners. He immediately started to make adjustments to fine tune and increase the scanners definition. It took less then ten microns to bring the object into focus, it was a viper. This was soon followed by a large group of ships. These were Cylons. They were soon followed by more Cylon fighters…….a lot more of them. He turned to where Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh stood, going over their battle plans.

"Commander, long range scanners show a single viper heading on an intercept course followed by a large group of Cylon fighter craft."

Adama and Tigh exchanged a surprised look as they both moved closer to Omega's station. On the monitor displaying the long range scanner readout, a single viper was indeed heading toward them, followed by a dozen Cylon fighters. Tigh was the first to speak, asking the question on everyone's mind. "How did he know we were here? We've been running silent since we changed course!"

"Most likely just a coincidence, but it does cause a problem Colonel. We've most likely been discovered and will come under attack soon." Adama said. "Well Colonel, so much for our well laid plans. Bring the ship to alert status and order Orange and Green Squadrons to stand by for launch as soon as we drop out of light speed."

"Yes sir!" Tigh said then went about issuing the proper orders.

Adama stood behind Omega, watching the approaching ships. He asked Omega, "Can you identify whose viper that is?"

"Yes sir!" Omega said as he entered a new command into the computer. It took less then two microns for them to get their answer, and it was far from what either would have expected.

"Commander, its Ensign Konst, or at least it's his transponder code." Omega said in disbelief.

"Ensign Konst, Lords of Kobal! How could he have survived that suicide attack he made?" Adama whispered. Then to Omega he said. "Have Orange and Green Squadrons launch at once. And have Ensign Konst land immediately and report to the bridge."

"Yes sir!" Omega replied.

Within microns of the order to launch being given, dozens of the sleek white vipers of Orange and Green Squadrons leaped down the launch tubes and out into space. It took less then five centons to launch all eighty ships of the two squadrons and get them into their formations. Lieutenant Kolbe was in command of Green Squadron while Lieutenant Levi commanded Orange Squadron. Both were survivors of the "peace conference" at Cimtar nearly two yahren before. As senior officer, Lieutenant Kolbe was in overall command and took the point of the Galactica's defensive screen. He looked around to see if his people were in position. Off his right wing, he saw his wingmate, Lieutenant Nyby busy checking his scanner. To his left were Lieutenant Lupo and Lieutenant Pettus. The four of them were all from the Battlestar Pacifica and had flown together for six yahren. They were the only people left from that once mighty vessel and had requested that they be assigned to the same squadron aboard the Galactica. Commander Adama had been very accommodating, saying he didn't want to break up what little "family" they might have left, and so he had them assigned to Red Squadron. As more and more pilots were trained and new vipers were built, Adama expanded their air wing form three squadrons to six, one of which was to act as a training squadron. Now after seven sectars of training and long, boring patrols, they were finally going back into action. Kolbe activated his long range scanner and immediately picked up Lieutenant Konst's viper heading their way followed by a dozen Cylon fighters. Konst's viper was well out of range of the Cylon weapons, but he was leading them right to the Galactica. If they were able to scan the Galactica and report her position to their baseships, it would end any chance they had at pulling off the planned sneak attack on the Cylons. Therefore, it was vital that they intercept the Cylon fighters and destroy them before they could betray their position.

It was at that moment that a voice broke the silence on the comm link.

"Patrol two to Galactica. Patrol two to Galactica, come in please." said a frightened voice. The voice of Ensign Konst.

"What in Sagen's name is he doing? Is he trying to lead the entire Cylon fleet right to us or what?" Nyby said over the secured comm link between the ships of Green Squadron.

"I'm not sure, but we need to stop him before he blows our plan all to Hades." Kolbe said.

Then he switched frequencies to the Red Squadron ship to ship frequency and tried to contact Konst.

"Green leader to patrol two, do you copy? Green leader to patrol two acknowledge."

A few microns passed before there was an answer.

"Patrol two to green leader, is that you Kolbe?" the voice said.

"Affirmative Patrol Two. State your status and intentions." Kolbe said.

"Intentions!" Konst said, somewhat confused by the question. "My intentions are to stay alive. What kind of question is that Kolbe? What are you doing way out here anyway? Where's the Galactica?"

"Calm down Konst and tell me why you're leading those Cylons this way!" Kolbe said in a very stern voice.

"I was trying to lead them away from the Galactica and hopefully find some way of losing them." Konst said more calmly this time. "So why are you out here?"

"We picked you up on our scanners and came out to intercept you and your friends. The Galactica is trying to swing around behind the Cylon baseships and pull a sneak attack on them, that was until you brought the whole Cylon fleet this way. Now we may have been discovered thanks to you." Kolbe said with a bit of anger in his voice.

"How was I to know the Galactica had changed course? They've been jamming my comm's for the past twenty centons and I've only had short range scanners." Konst said, his own anger building at Kolbe's attitude.

"Alright, listen up. Change your course three points to port, that will bring you right to us." Kolbe told Konst.

"Three points to port, got it!" replied Konst.

With that, Konst pushed his stick slightly to the left and steadied up on the new heading. The jamming from the Cylon ships was beginning to lighten up and he was beginning to get better resolution on his scanner. He picked up Green Squadron heading his way and for the first time in centars began to feel as if he would survive. Just then his viper began to slow down. Looking at his interments, he was shocked to find his low fuel indicator had come on. How could he have missed it? Now he heard his engines start to sputter. He cut the fuel flow to his number one engine, hoping to keep fuel flowing to the other two engines. The two remaining engines began to smooth out, but he had lost a great deal of speed and now the pursuing Cylon fighters were nearly on top of him.

"Patrol Two to Green leader, I'm almost out of fuel and those Cylons are catching up to me. How about some help here!" Konst radioed.

"Hang in there Ensign, were almost there." came the reply from Lieutenant Kolbe.

"Easy for you to say!" Konst thought as the Cylon fighters began firing on him. Konst began some evasive maneuvers, trying not to give them an easy target. Laser blasts exploded on either side of his ship as his veered one way then the other. He knew he couldn't keep this up for long, sooner or late, one of those Cylons would get lucky and send a laser blast right up his tail. Another explosion, this one very close to his cockpit, temporarily blinded him. All he could see was huge blue and white spots. Konst rubbed his eyes furiously to try and restore some of his vision, but to no avail. He continued to bob and weave through space so as not to make it easy for the Cylons, but without his sight, he had no idea where he was going. Then he heard his comm system come to life.

"Green leader to Konst, where are you going? You're moving away from us. Come back to your previous heading."

"Green leader, I can't see where I'm going, I'm flash blind! Can you direct me back on course?" Konst said.

"Understood, come right about 6 points." Kolbe said, hoping that Konst would remember his flight training on how to navigate while flash blinded.

"Coming right." Konst said as he moved his joystick to the right about five degrees. Then he started counting, using the method he learned in flight training over a yahren ago. When he hit six, he brought the stick back to its centered position.

"Well done Ensign, you're right on course." Konst heard Lieutenant Kolbe say over the comm system. "I have visual contact with you right now. We're almost there."

Konst felt a great wave of relief wash over him at hearing that. Maybe he would make it?

Then everything was gone!

Kolbe could see Ensign Konst's viper coming right at him and the rest of Green Squadron with a dozen Cylons in hot pursuit. The Cylons were in their typical phalanx formation, four groups of three flying in a diamond. He could see the lead group take a shot at Konst, a near miss. Then another round of fire. This one however didn't miss the mark as it struck the top of the cockpit dead center, cutting the viper in half and sending the two pieces tumbling through space.

"LORDS OF KOBAL NO!!!!" Kolbe yelled in horror.

"Dear god, did you see that? Said Nyby, shocked by what he had just witnessed.

Other pilots expressed similar exclamations of shock, horror, disbelief, rage, and fear.

Kolbe took only a micron or two to recover his composure and quite down his squadron. "Alright, that's enough chatter! We can't do anything for Konst now except make scrap metal out of those tin cans." He said. "Green Squadron, engage and destroy."

The acknowledgements from the members of his squadron came almost as one voice as the members of Green Squadron hit their turbos and raced forward to avenge their fallen comrade.

The Cylon commander had been so intent on the lone human craft that it never noticed the large formation of vipers approaching his group until it was too late. The ships of Green Squadron ripped into the Cylon formation with a vengeance, ripping all twelve raiders to pieces in just one pass. With no more targets to attack, the colonials turned back to their assigned mission.

Just as the members of Green Squadron began to make their return to station, Lieutenant Nyby got on the comm system, his normally calm voice tinted with a slight touch of apprehension.

"Hey boss, I think we have a big problem!" Nyby said.

"What are you talking about? What kind of problem? asked Kolbe.

"I think you better take a look at your scanner, where Konst came from. We got company. Lots of company!" Nyby said, fear beginning to edge into his voice.

Kolbe flipped his scanner from forward scan mode to rear scan and felt his heart skip a beat. There on his screen was a huge formation of ships heading their way. He hit a switch to bring up the "War Book" to identify the incoming vessels, thou he already knew what it would tell him. Sure enough, within a matter of microns, the War Book had identified them as Cylon fighters, Raider Class. Kolbe hit a new command on the computer and it showed him a long range scan of their rear quadrant. The entire screen was covered with small triangles, each indicated a Cylon fighter.

"How many do you count Nyby?" Kolbe asked his wingmate.

"My computer is up to three hundred and still counting boss! We're going to need some help with this I'd say." Nyby said with no humor in his voice.

"Like you were reading my mind partner." Kolbe said

Flipping his comm system from Green Squadron's frequency to the Orange Squadron frequency, Kolbe put out the call for assistance.

"Green leader to Orange Leader, Green lead to Orange, do you copy?" he said.

"I hear you Green lead." Lieutenant Levi said.

"We have a problem Levi" Kolbe said "Looks like a couple hundred Cylons are heading our way. We could sure use some help up here."

"Acknowledged, we're already on it. We'll be coming in on your left flank. Levi told him.

Kolbe nodded his head in approval.

"Understood Orange leader. We'll hit them head on then." Kolbe said.

By coming in from the left flank, the Cylons would get the idea that the Galactica was somewhere in that direction. After they engaged the lead elements of the Cylon attack force, they could break away in that direction and lead them away from the Galactica's actual position. A brilliant plan if it worked.

But that was a big if!

On the bridge of the Galactica, Commander Adama stood transfixed as he watched events unfold before him. On the monitor, he watched as his two meager squadrons, eighty vipers in all, moved forward in a two prong attack on what had to be six to seven hundred Cylons. They had always battled against the odds, outnumbered at every turn, but they had always been able to triumph over their soulless adversaries with their skill and unpredictable tactics. But this time, with the odds at eight or nine to one, was it too much to overcome?

"Commander, Lieutenant Kolbe says they are moving to engage. He asks if you have any further orders for him." Said Colonel Tigh from his position next to the communications station.

Adama turned from his first officer and stared out into space for a moment. Then without taking his eyes from the forward screen, he said. "Tell Lieutenant Kolbe to engage and destroy the Cylon attack force, and may the Lords of Kobal bless them and look to their safety."

Colonel Tigh nodded slowly and passed the orders on to Lieutenant Kolbe.

Kolbe received the message just as the first of the Cylon formation came into view. The mass of Cylon ships stretched as far as he could see. The first twinge of fear began to creep into his gut as the enormous formation moved closer with each passing micron. Kolbe took a deep breath, then switched on his comm system.

"Green Leader to squadron, this is it people. You all know the drill. Hit em hard, hit em fast, and hit em often. Stay with your wingmates and watch your tails. If you take damage, get out and return to the Galactica by the prearranged route, understood!"

After acknowledgments from all the members of the squadron, Kolbe wished them all good luck and good hunting. There was nothing else he could do, because the lead elements of the Cylon force were beginning to open fire.

Off on the left flank of Green Squadron, Lieutenant Levi and the members of Orange Squadron were making their way into position to hit the Cylons from the side. Levi had hoped that by coming in from that angle, the Cylons would get the idea that the Galactica was somewhere in that direction and might change their course that way. Levi knew they would have to hit the massive formation fast and hard, then get out of the area before the Cylons could make a counter attack. Hit and run was the way to go in this case. There was no way two squadrons could hope to take on the entire Cylon attack fleet and hope to survive. They would have to wittle them down a little at a time. That was his plan, hit and run. He was unsure if it would do any good, but there were few options for the meager force of colonials.

"Alright everybody, listen up! We should be approaching our turn about now. On my mark, all sections are to execute a ninety degree turn to starboard and punch up your speed to point nine of max. We should be on the Cylons rear quadrate when we engage. With a little bit of luck, we should be able to get in the first strike before they even realize we're there. After that however, we will be out numbered by twenty to one, so no heroics. Turn and burn! Get your tails out of the area and into the regrouping area. We'll reform there and then hit them again in force. Our objective is to pull them as far away from the Galactica as possible. Any questions?"

When no questions were forthcoming, Levi wished his squadron luck and stared at his chronometer as it counted down the centons. As the last few microns counted down, Levi flipped on his comm unit, "Orange Leader to Orange Squadron, execute starboard turn now!"

With that, forty sleek white vipers turned as one onto their new course and immediately accelerated away toward what could be the beginning of the end for mankind.

Lieutenant Kolbe began making evasive maneuvers as the Cylon fighters began firing on him and his squadron. Hundreds of bright blue laser blasts came streaking toward his people, certain death to anyone not quick enough to avoid the deadly power. The Cylons enjoyed a slight advantage in the range of their weapons and always seemed to exploit it when battles were joined. The Warriors of mankind had to relay on the instincts and reflexes to evade their fire until they were able to employ their own weapons. This usually was only a few microns, but in a daggit fight, a few microns can be an eternity.

Just as soon as they had closed to weapons range, all the members of Green Squadron opened up with their own lasers in response. Blinding red bolts of laser fire leaped from each and every viper. Hundreds of explosions erupted throughout the space between the two forces as red and blue laser bolts collided in huge fireballs.

Both sides took casualties right from the start too!

The deadly accurate fire of the humans was countered by the mass fire of their mechanical adversaries. Dozens of Cylon ships were ripped to sheds and exploded as the Colonial vipers cut into the orderly formation of Cylons. One would find it almost impossible to miss, as there were so many Cylon ships to shot at.

But the humans were taking losses too!

Within the first centon of fighting, six vipers had been destroyed outright and three others were forced to turn away after receiving severe damage. These were unfortunately pursued by their soulless opponents and summarily dispatched. Still, the Colonial Warriors pressed the attack, heedless of the danger as they cut a swath through the Cylon formation, but it hardly made a dent in the massive formation as more and more Cylons flooded into the gap made by Green Squadron. The farther they penetrated the Cylon formation, the thicker the fire from the Cylons became. They showed no regard for their own ships as they blindly fired away, destroying Humans and Cylon alike. Several of the Cylon craft went so far as to ram into the Colonials as they continued to fight their way through the Cylons.

After what seemed like an eternity, a group of vipers broke free of the mass of Cylon fighters. Only eleven of the original forty ships of Green Squadron were left, most of them showing dozens of near hits on the skins of their ships. As they cleared the rear of the Cylon formation, they all made an immediate turn to port and hit their turbos.

"Alright Green Squadron, lets get the Hades out of here! Turn and burn people!" Kolbe yelled into his comm system.

As the Vipers of Green Squadron accelerated away, several dozen Cylon fighters broke off from the main force and began to pursue, but they were already out of range. They pursued for several centons before finally giving up and turning back toward the main body. It was then that they first realized they were not alone out there. Two score of Colonial Vipers suddenly appeared behind them and began blasting away. The Cylons attempted to evade the new enemy, but it was too late as the Vipers of Orange Squadron made short work out of them.

"Orange Leader to Green Lead, come in please." called Lieutenant Levi on the Green Squadron frequency.

"This is Green Lead, thanks for the assist Orange Leader. Wasn't sure we were on the right course for a centon there." replied Kolbe.

"How bad did your squadron take it Kolbe?" asked Levi.

"I lost three quarters of my squadron, including Nyby and Pettus." Kolbe said sadly. "But I'll bet we took down well over a hundred of them."

Levi shook his head sadly as he thought about all those brave men and women that had given their lives. He knew it was the risk one took every time they went into combat, but it never failed to sadden him when the losses were totaled up at the end of battle. He always wondered when his time would come too. His attention was brought back to the present by Kolbe's voice.

"We need to regroup and hit them again. Their still on a course that will put them in range of the Galactica, we have to pull them away before they can get a fix on her." Kolbe said.

"Alright, we'll form up on you and follow your lead." Levi said.

With that, the remainder of Green Squadron, eleven ships in all took the lead as the forty ships of Orange Squadron moved into positions behind and to both sides of them. Fifty one ships were all that was left to repel the hundreds of Cylons that still remained on course toward the Galactica. Not the best odds in the galaxy, but there was little choice. Once they were in position, Kolbe passed the word to both squadrons, "You all did a great job on the last attack, but the Cylons are still heading for the Galactica. We have to hit them again. This time we hit them from behind. Same tactics as before, hit them hard and then break off the way we came. Try and get them to follow us away from the Galactica. No heroics! Any questions?"

When no questions were forthcoming, Kolbe gave the order to throttle up and intercept the Cylon attack force in what many of them believed would be their final battle.


	7. Nightmare? Chapter 7

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter Seven

Adama stood on the command podium of the Galactica monitoring the ever changing tactical picture of the battle. A sense of dread began to creep up his spine as he watched his hopelessly outnumbered squadrons attempt to stem the tide of advance by the relentless hordes of Cylons. He had watched helplessly as his finest warriors, those of the three strike squadrons, flew off to meet the enemy. Outnumbered as usual, they engaged the Cylons just over a centar ago and as yet had not been heard from. This was especially disheartening to him since the warrior in command of the Galactica's strike wing was his eldest son, Apollo. He had already lost his youngest child, Zac, to the Cylons, two yahren before at what was laughably still referred to as "the peace conference". Now he couldn't help but think that he would never see Apollo again. A voice from off to his right brought his attention back to the present. The voice was that of his daughter, Athena, who was manning her post at the long range scanners and communications console.

"Father, I'm picking up a signal on the viper channel!" she said excitedly.

Adama quickly moved over to where his daughter was busily trying to clear up the incoming signal.

"Can you tell who it's from Athena?" he asked in a tone that made it clear that he was both worried and hopeful.

"Not yet father, there's still a good bit of interference coming from that Cylon task force." Athena said as she continued to work her controls. After a few more moments, she began to smile.

"I think I have them!" she said triumphantly. Then she looked up at her father, "It's Apollo!"

Feeling a wave of relief sweep over himself, Adama said to Athena, "Thank the Lords of Kobal. Transfer him to my console Athena!"

Adama returned to his command console and plugged in the headset he was wearing. With the press of a button, he began speaking to his son.

"Galactica to Blue leader, come in please."

"Blue leader to Galactica, I read you." came back the voice of Apollo.

With a smile on his face, Adama gave a quick, silent prayer of thanks, and then continued.

"What is your status Apollo? Where are you?"

A short wave of static drowned out the reply at first, but quickly cleared.

"We are returning to the Galactica to refuel. Request we be allowed to do a "hot refueling" then launch from the landing bay instead of moving to the launch tubes." Apollo said through the static.

Colonel Tigh had joined Adama on the command podium and was listening intently.

"Permission granted for "hot refueling". Use both landing bays for minimum turn around time. How many ships do you have with you Apollo?"

There was a short silence that seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and then came the answer that sent a shockwave through the commander.

"I have eighteen ships with me commander. That's all that's left of our three squadrons." Came the reply from Apollo, both sadness and anger detectable in his voice.

The shock of what he had just heard was displayed on Adama's face for all to see. Did he hear his son correctly? Had he misunderstood? He keyed his comm unit and in a slow, deliberate voice asked Apollo to repeat what he had just said.

Colonel Tigh had plugged in his headset so as to hear what had taken the color from his friends face. When the words were repeated by Apollo, Tigh too felt the universe tilt on end. He looked at Adama with his mouth hanging open, speechless.

Adama closed his eyes and forced the horror of the news away as best he could. There would be time to mourn (he hoped) for those brave souls later. Now he had to concentrate on getting what few pilots were left aboard and refueled before the Cylons found them and attacked. Adama turned to Lieutenant Omega and asked, "Do you have the position of the Cylon fleet Omega?"

Omega ran through several commands on his console before answering.

"Long range scan shows a large body of ships moving in our direction. They're at extreme range so positive identification is impossible at this time." Omega said. "But they appear to be Cylon sir."

Adama shook his head. How could the Cylons have found them? Certainly they didn't follow Apollo's group back. They were coming from another sector. So how did they find them? Perhaps it was another, previously undetected attack force? It mattered little, because they were on their way,

in force and they would have to be dealt with. The question was, would they be able to stave off their attack with just nineteen vipers? Adama was sure the answer to that question was not what he hoped.

It took less then five centons for Apollo and the survivors of the Galactica's strike wing to land after making contact with the great ship. Several vipers had to be towed into the landing bays by their comrades, their fuel cells having run dry before they could make it back. Apollo was the last to land, not a micron before his own engines began to cut out from the lack of fuel. As each viper landed, it was moved to one of several fueling ports at the far end of the landing bay. There, ground crewmen attached fueling hoses and grounding straps to each ship and began fuel flowing. This was normally done with the engines shut down for safety reasons, but under the present circumstances, this procedure was being ignored so as to expedite the quickest refueling turnaround possible. With word that a large attack force was less then fifteen centons out, this could mean the difference between life and death for everyone on the Galactica. Making things even faster was the fact that they were using both landing bays to refuel. With a bit of luck, all nineteen vipers could be refueled and back in space in five centons.

Apollo called the bridge for an update on the Cylon attack force that was approaching and the other squadrons. He felt that there would be little he and the rest of the remaining pilots could do against such overwhelming odds, but he would lead his people out to meet the enemy anyway, there was no other choice at that point. They could not run away and leave a fleet of unarmed civilian ships with what was left of humanity to be wiped out, though it was likely even with their best efforts, it would still happen. Apollo didn't believe there was any way to stop it.

"Blue Leader to bridge, any word from Orange or Green Squadrons yet?" Apollo asked.

Apollo heard the voice of his father come through his comm set.

"No word as yet Apollo. We do know that they did engage the Cylons about thirty centons ago and inflicted heavy losses on them. They also reported taking heavy losses themselves. Since then we have heard nothing."

Apollo shook his head in sorrow. Two more squadrons of brave warriors apparently gone and still the Cylons keep coming. How could they hope to stop them, even with a thousand vipers, the Cylons would simply build more fighters and more centurions and send them out after them, a never ending stream of mechanical horrors to be defeated. Would they ever see the end of them?

Apollo's musings were interrupted by the voice of his father again.

"Apollo, the Cylon attack force is closing on us much faster then what was anticipated. We estimate less the TWO centons before they are in weapons range. You and your squadron are to secure fueling and launch immediately!"

"Yes sir!" Apollo replied quickly. He motioned to his crew chief to disconnect the fuel lines and switched his comm unit over to the viper channel.

"Blue Leader to all vipers, cease refueling operations immediately and launch as soon as fuel lines are clear. That Cylon attack force is less then two centons out and we need to get off this deck right now!"

"Two centons! I thought they said fifteen!" Starbuck said somewhat perturbed.

"That's what they said, but evidently these Cylons can move a lot faster then the normal ones. Now get those fuel lines clear and launch." Apollo yelled into the comm as he saw his crew chief fighting with the fuel lines.

"What's the hold up with those lines Chief?" he yelled down to the man on the deck.

"The fuel line coupling is jammed. We can't get it to disconnect!" the crew chief yelled back as two more crewman ran over to assist.

Apollo slammed his fist into the side of his cockpit in frustration as the three crewmen struggled with the stubborn fuel line. Apollo watched as one of the pilots from Red Squadron, Ensign Lorne pulled away from the refueling area and began his run for the landing bay opening. He cleared the fueling area and hit his turbos for launch a few microns later. Just as he lifted off the deck and cleared the opening, his viper was struck by several blue laser blasts, exploding in a huge fireball. Another viper was just beginning to make its run when the pilot saw what happened and cut his engines. Unfortunately, the forward momentum had already carried the viper past the gravity shield and the ship floated out the end of the landing bay without the benefit of its engines. This made it an easy target for the Cylon fighters that were now closing in on the Galactica.

Apollo, seeing the two pilots killed before they even had a chance to defend themselves knew it would be suicide to try and launch now. The Cylons simply had to wait for them to come out of the launch bay opening. Apollo clicked on his comm and made the only decision possible.

"Blue Leader to all vipers, abort launch! I repeat, abort launch. The Cylons are sitting outside the bay openings waiting for us. We'll never make it out alive."

"So what do we do Apollo?" asked Bojay.

Before Apollo could answer, two Cylon fighters swooped down below the defensive laser fire that had begun just moments before and began firing into the landing bay. This set off fires in several fuel lines that were damaged by the attack. The two fighters flew in over the threshold of the landing bay and continued firing on the stationary Colonial Vipers. Apollo began yelling orders over the comm system as soon as he saw the Cylon's.

"Everyone out of the landing bay, NOW! Let's go, move it people." He yelled.

Pilots and ground crewmen began scrambling away from the conflagration as the flames raced towards them. One unfortunate crewman slipped on some spilt fuel from one of the disconnected fuel lines and went sprawling to the deck. Before he could regain his feet, the flames engulfed him.

The two Cylons continued firing all the way thru the landing bay before they both crashed into the abandoned vipers that still sat at the fueling ports. This caused another huge explosion as more fuel was ignited.

Apollo and Starbuck both managed to escape their vipers and high tail it thru one of the nearby hatches leading to the long corridor that ran the length of the landing bay. Automatic fire doors began closing throughout the landing bay, trying to contain the fire as much as possible. Apollo and Starbuck made their way to another hatch that lead to the passageways thru the support struts to the main body of the Galactica. They were joined by Boomer, Sheba, Bojay and several members of the ground crews.

"Where are the rest of our people?" Apollo asked.

Boomer shook his head slowly and said, "I saw them running for the lift. I doubt they were able to get clear of the fire."

"What do we do now Apollo?" asked Sheba, her voice a bit shaky from all that they had been thru.

Apollo looked at her for a moment, wanting to take her in his arms and hold her, comfort her for just a few moments, but he had to maintain his air of command, so he refrained.

"Well, for now we need to get away from here. Bojay, take these crewmen with you and see if you can get to Beta landing bay. Find out what their situation is and if there are any vipers left there. The rest of us are going to head for the bridge and find out what the commander is going to do."

Bojay nodded and motioned to the ground crewmen to follow him to Beta bay while Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba headed for the bridge.

On the bridge, Adama and Tigh watched as the mass of Cylon fighters closed in on them. There seemed to be no end to their numbers as more and more came up on the Galactica's scanners. At that moment, Omega's voice interrupted the silence of the command team.

"Sir, gunnery control reports that they're having difficulty getting targeting locks on the incoming Cylon fighters. They seem to be generating some kind of jamming field."

"Jamming field?" Adama said perplexed by this new development. "That could explain why we couldn't get an accurate reading on their distance before."

He turned to Colonel Tigh, "Have all laser turret crews switch to manual control and use visual tracking." He ordered.

"Manual control Adama? It's been yahren since our gun crews did any manual gunnery." Tigh said uneasily.

Adama nodded his head, understanding his friend's trepidation.

"I know Tigh, but we have little choice. If our scanners can't get a lock on the Cylon ships, we'll have to rely on the old fashion skill of our gun crews." Adama said with far more confidence in his voice then he felt.

Just then the entire battlestar shook violently. Adama and Tigh maintained their footing by grabbing hold of the railing of the command podium. Adama began yelling orders immediately.

"Damage reports, all decks. I want to know what that was and how bad we've been hurt immediately! Helm, hard to starboard; bring us around to course zero five five delta, ahead full."

Acknowledgements came from the helmsmen and the damage control stations as the great ship heeled over to the right and began to accelerate. Within just a few microns, the entire ship began to shake violently. From the damage control station, a young crewman called out to the commander, "Commander! We have reports of massive fires in Alpha landing bay. Severe structural damage is reported likely by the on scene damage control leader."

Adama slammed his hand down on the railing he held for support in frustration. There seemed to be no end to the problems they faced. He nodded to the crewman and then ordered for their speed to be reduced to half speed; this did not stop the shaking entirely, but did make it much more manageable. They would never be able to outrun the Cylons at that slow speed. Something had to be done, and fast, before the Cylons could bring their full strength against them. The crewman at the damage control station called out as another wave of Cylons made their attack runs on the Galactica.

"Commander, damage control parties report landing bay Alpha is now fully engulfed in flames. Support struts to the bay are beginning to weaken. The on scene leader says Alpha bay will be ripped from the hull in less then fifty centons unless we reduce speed at once."

Adama's eyes locked with those of his executive officer. Both men knew they could not slow down, not if they hoped to survive this attack. Colonel Tigh was the first to voice the thought that was going thru both of their minds.

"Adama, we have to separate Alpha landing bay at once. If we don't, it will rip the entire ship to pieces."

Adama knew he was right. He also knew that Apollo was in that landing bay and that he had lost communications with him not long after the first explosion in the bay. Was Apollo still alive? He had no idea. Most likely not! But, whether he was alive or not, the landing bay had to be separated immediately. Adama nodded to the colonel and turned to Omega.

"Pass the word to all hands, evacuate Alpha landing bay immediately. All fire teams are to pull back to their secondary boundaries at once. We will be separating Alpha bay in five centons!"

Omega nodded and passed the orders along to all hands.

Separating the landing bay from the primary hull would be done by explosive charges placed in the support struts shortly after the attack that nearly destroyed the Galactica nearly a yahren before. The landing bay was saved on that occasion by Apollo and Starbuck placing Solinite charges on the hull and blowing holes in the hull of the bay, thus allowing the vacuum of space to snuff out the flames. This time however, this was not an option. The fire was far too intense and there was far more structural damage, especially to the support struts that connected the landing bay to the primary hull.

"Commander, all emergency bulkheads and fire doors leading from Alpha landing bay have been secured." Omega reported.

Adama glanced at the bridge officer and nodded. He then took a deep breath and gave the order to begin the final countdown to detonation. With that, Omega began to countdown the last centon before the charges went off. Adama sat in his command chair, something he rarely did, and braced himself for the inevitable shock wave. His thoughts strayed for a moment to Apollo and all those warriors that had been in the landing bay when they were engulfed by the fires. He said a silent prayer for them.

Throughout the Galactica, people braced themselves as they heard Omega counting down the last few microns before the explosive separation of the landing bay.

"Twenty microns till landing bay separation……. Ten microns…….Nine…… Eight…….."

Colonel Tigh tightened his grip on the command console.

"Seven……. Six……. Five……"

Athena and Rigel removed their headsets and held on to their consoles tightly.

"Four …….Three …….. Two……."

Adama tightened his grip on the armrests of his chair and closed his eyes.

"One!"

Throughout the great battlestar, a loud rumbling could be heard…….. And felt! Deck plates began vibrating, then bouncing so violently, they threatened to come up out of their frames.

Out in space, the scene was one of fascinating horror as the charges went off in the precision set order. From the forward most support strut to the aft support, huge directional charges blew away the bulkheads, framework, and decking of all three supports and the cross ship passageway that connected the two landing bays directly, separating the bay from the primary hull. Scores of Cylon fighters were caught off guard by the separation of the landing bay, as it twisted away from the speeding battlestar, crushing those fighters that didn't react quickly enough to avoid it. The severed landing bay continued to tumble thru space, flames clearly visible thru the many holes blown in the hull by the attacking Cylons. Suddenly, it erupted in a massive explosion. Hundreds of Cylon fighters were caught in the fireball and even more by the shockwave caused by the explosion.

On the bridge of the Galactica, the ship shook violently for several microns, sending some crewmembers soaring thru the air. Then things began to smooth out and the great ship began to pick up speed. Adama's opened his eyes slowly, not sure what he would see. Most of the bridge crew had maintained their positions and were already busy compiling status and damage reports from all stations. Adama looked over to where Colonel Tigh was still gripping the command console and asked for a status report.

"So far it looks like everything went off without a hitch commander. Reports are coming in from all areas around the separation and all are positive. No fires. No further structural damage."

"Can we increase speed to full?" Adama asked.

"There's only one way to find out." Tigh said, a slight smile on his face.

Adama nodded and gave the order, "Helm, ahead full. Be ready to drop back down to half speed if it gets too rough."

"Yes sir!" replied the helmsmen.

With that, the Galactica began to pick up speed. It took several centons before the huge ship was able to reach its top speed since they didn't want to push it too hard before they were sure it could handle the increase.

The best thing about ejecting the landing bay though was the fact that the Cylons had backed off for the moment, perhaps thinking that the Galactica was about to go up in a fireball. All the fighters had pulled well away from the wounded battlestar. Now they were regrouping and beginning their pursuit.

Adama watched the scanner screen as slowly, the Cylon fighters began to fall behind them. Had they pulled off yet another miracle? Had they survived another encounter with their adversary? It was beginning to look as if they may yet survive the day.

But that belief was soon to be ripped asunder.

"THREE BASESHIPS DEAD AHEAD!" yelled Athena from her place at the scanners.

All heads turned to where Athena sat working her controls. Adama and Tigh both hurried over to her station to confirm her report. One look at the scanner screen was all it took. There, directly in their path were three Cylon baseships, closing fast on their position.

"That makes at least SIX baseships we have after us Adama. Where did they get so many?" Colonel Tigh said more then a little confused……… and scared.

"I don't have a clue!" Adama said just as confused as his first officer. "But we sure can't continue in that direction."

He turned to the helmsman and loudly ordered, "Helm, hard over to starboard. Come to course Delta seven one, flank speed"

Immediately the huge ship turned nearly vertical on its right side as the helmsman threw the Galactica into a flank speed turn. People all over the ship were tossed from their feet as the inertia from the turn increased. Those on the bridge were able to hold their places only by hanging on to their stations or by fastening the safety restraints on their seats. Adama and Tigh likewise were nearly thrown from their feet by the sudden turn, grabbing hold of Athena's scanner station at the last moment.

Slowly the Galactica steadied up on its new course, allowing the crew to relax their holds and get back to the business at hand ….. survival!

Adama asked for an update on the now six baseships that were no after them. He had never faced this many Cylon Baseships in one engagement before, not even when the Third Fleet was in tact. Now, with just a single Battlestar, the odds didn't look so good.

"Three Baseships bearing Theta five three and three more at Sigma two two." Omega said as he watched the scans coming in.

Adama exchanged a worried glance with Colonel Tigh. Both men knew they were being boxed in, that they were being herded in a specific direction for an as yet unknown reason, but they had no other choice. They could not go toe to toe with six Baseships. All they could do was hope they could make it out of the Cylon's trap before they had a chance to spring it. Just then Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba arrived on the bridge.

"Father!" Apollo called out, winded from the long trek from the landing bay.

Adama turned quickly at the sound of his son's voice and was overcome by emotion. He had been so sure that Apollo had perished in the landing bay, and now here he was, safe. Apollo ran up the steps of the command dais and was greeted by his father and sister.

"I thought we'd lost you when the landing bay blew!" Adama said joyfully.

"You almost did. If it hadn't been for one of the fuel lines getting stuck, I may well have been blown to bits when I tried launching out of the landing bay. The Cylons were sitting outside waiting for us. I lost a couple of pilots while they were trying to launch." Apollo told him.

"How many ships did we lose in Alpha bay?" Tigh asked.

"At least ten." Apollo said. "The rest landed in Beta bay."

Adama turned to Omega and asked him if there had been any word as to the situation in Beta landing bay.

"Only a preliminary report when the Vipers landed. They confirmed nine Vipers landing and the start of "hot refueling", but nothing since."

"Try and contact them. Find out if any ships survived down there." Adama ordered. Then he turned back to Apollo.

"Without our Vipers, we'll be hard pressed to survive. As much as I dread the prospect, I may have to recall our remaining squadrons and make a run for it!"

Apollo's face went white at hearing this.

"You can't be serious father? If you pull the Galactica out, the rest of the fleet won't stand a chance!" He said, not believing what he had heard.

Adama turned away from his son and looked out at the stars.

"There might not be any other choice Apollo." Adama began, still staring out the forward view port. "If we lose the Galactica, our people won't stand a chance of survival, but if we can save the Galactica and perhaps those ships that can still travel at light speed, we might be able to save at least a portion of our people."

"And what of those we leave behind?" Apollo said angrily. "Have you thought about what will happen to them?"

Adama turned around quickly to face Apollo, he face a mask of both anger and anguish.

"I know exactly what will happen to them!" he hissed thru clinched teeth. "But there is no other choice! We have to …….."

Adama was cut off in mid sentence by the voice of Athena, calling up from her place at the main scanner console.

"Father! Incoming baseships bearing zero zero four, heading directly at us! Time to intercept ….. forty centons. We're surrounded!"

Adama and Apollo stared at Athena for a moment then turned back to each other. A look of fear crossed both men's faces as they realized they had just run out of places to run.

"What do we do now Adama?" asked Tigh, who was standing next to Omega at the command console.

For the first time in his life, Adama had no answers. He moved to the railing of the command dais and leaned on it with both hands. It seemed that a huge weight had suddenly fallen upon him as he stood there with his head hung and shoulders slumped. Not even the comforting gesture of Apollo's hand on his shoulder could help him now.

"Father, we have to do something." Apollo said softly, the anger of a few moments ago forgotten. "What should we do?"

Adama made no sign that he had heard his son, nor did he seem to be aware of his surroundings. He simply stood there leaning on the railing. Apollo tried again to bring his father out of his stupor, but was unsuccessful.

Tigh turned to Omega, "I need a quick scan of the entire sector. We need to find a way thru the Cylons."

Omega began working his controls while Tigh moved closer to Athena, who was sitting at her console, staring at her father, tears running down her face. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a soft voice, "Athena, I know you're worried about your father, we all are. But I need you here. I need you to keep distance and bearing readings on those Cylon Baseships."

Athena looked up at the Colonel and nodded, a small smile crossing her lips.

"Yes sir." She said softly as she returned her focus to her work.

Tigh looked back to where Adama and Apollo stood. His heart went out to his old friend. No one man should have had to deal with all that Adama had. He had taken on the worries and the responsibility for the entire human race, from the time their home worlds had been destroyed until now. It was just too much to ask of one man, and now it looked as if the weight of it all had finally taken its toll and claimed yet another victim. Tigh began to wonder what the next few centars would bring.

Apollo stood next to his father trying to bring him back from whatever dark place it seemed he had suddenly slipped into. Adama stood there motionless, his hands planted firmly on the railing of the command dais, his head down and his eyes shut tight. He would not respond to anything Apollo said or did. He had simply shut down it seemed. Apollo looked down at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the command dais and saw Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba all looking up at them. Sheba had tears running down her face while Boomer and Starbuck had worried expressions. They were all scared that the Commander had finally circum to the weight of all that had happened since the defeat of the colonies.

Inside Adama's mind, a new war was being fought. This war was not between humans and Cylons, but was a battle between Adama and himself! He fought with himself over every decision he had made since the destruction of the colonies. Over whether he should have led his people out into space on what many called "a fools journey", looking for Earth. Over whether or not he should have taken Baltar's offer on Kobol to lead the Galactica back to Cylon, where they could have attacked the Cylon capital and possibly ended the war with one decisive blow. He fought with himself over his choice to ignore his old friend, Commander Cain and his advice to take and hold Gamoray, instead opting to take the safe route and only take the fuel they needed to get out of the sector. Those and many, many more decisions, each of which could have kept them from having to face this fate now spun around in his head. It was enough to make one go mad!

But no, he wasn't mad. He had made the right decisions! He had done the right thing! No one, not even Cain could have done what he had in saving as many of their people as he had. He had done the best job that was humanly possible and if this was to be the end, it was not because of his failure.

Failure!

It was a word that had never sat well with Adama. He had never accepted it in those who served under him and he could not ……. WOULD NOT …… accept it in himself!

"NO!" Adama yelled as he slammed both hands down on the railing. He slowly brought his head up to stare out at the still unseen Cylon Baseships that were approaching, his eyes burning with a fire that spoke of great determination. He looked about him to see every eye on the bridge directed at him. He turned around and saw Apollo standing two paces away, a look of trepidation and fear on his face. Then he saw Colonel Tigh, he too had that same look, as if he thought Adama had lost his mind.

"I need to know the exact position of each and every one of those Baseships. If were going to survive this, we'll have to make a break for it and try and rendezvous with the rest of the fleet."

For a few microns no one moved or said a word, then Tigh began giving orders to get Adama the information he had requested. Once the bridge staff was back at work, Tigh turned his gaze back to his old friend. Adama was looking at him with a slight smile on his face.

"It's alright Colonel, I'm fine." Adama said reassuringly

Tigh smiled slightly and nodded. "I was a bit worried for a moment."

"So was I old friend, so was I!"

At that moment, Athena called over to the two senior officers.

"Colonel, I'm picking up a large number of craft inbound from the Baseships in front of us."

"They must have launched their fighters, but why launch at such a great range?" Tigh said.

"I don't think their fighters Colonel. They don't match the profile in the war book." Athena told him.

Tigh and Adama both moved over to her station to see what it was the Cylons were throwing at them now.

"Have you run an analysis on the inbound ships yet?" Tigh asked.

"Yes, and they match nothing in the known Cylon inventory. Whatever they are, their new to the computer." She told them.

"Let's see what the scanners picked up of them." Adama said as he placed a warm, fatherly hand on his daughters shoulder.

Athena ran back the scans she had made off the unidentified vessels and displayed them on her monitor.

As the three dimensional representation of the strange craft began to form, Adama's eyes widened and his face began to pale with an expression of fear.

"What is it Adama? What are they?" asked Tigh.

"By the lords, it can't be!" Adama said to himself.

"What is it Adama?" Tigh insisted.

Adama stood up and looked over at his exec and said, "I had hoped never to see such as these ever again old friend."

"Then you know what these new ships are?" Athena asked.

"Yes, I know what they are, their called "Penetraters". The Cylons use them to infiltrate spacecraft and space stations." Adama said.

"Penetraters, I've never heard of them." Tigh said somewhat confused.

"That's because they don't use them very often." Adama began. "Most of the time, the Cylons simply destroy the ships of their enemies, but whenever they feel the need, they send out a group of these Penetraters to capture a ship and its crew."

"Capture! How!" Tigh asked.

"The Penetraters have a tapered front section, heavily reinforced with large amounts of triridium." He told them. "What they do is they ram their victims, penetrating the hulls. Then the entire front section opens up like a Caprican lily, locking the Penetrater in place. Inside each Penetrater there are hundreds of Cylon Centurions that move out and take control of the ship."

"Good lord. Why is it we've never heard of these ships before?" Tigh asked.

"Because there's only been one time in the long history of the war that a ship was able to fight off an attack by Penetraters and that was nearly sixty yahren ago."

"I don't ever remember hearing this." Tigh said. "What ship was it?"

"The Galactica!"

Tigh and Athena both stared at Adama in shock! They were both unsure they had heard the Commander correctly.

"The Galactica, are you sure?" Apollo asked from behind his father. He had walked over to them while they were looking at the scanner readings and had been listening to the conversation.

Adama turned to face his son and simply nodded.

"Yes, it was during your grandsire's command of the Galactica. He and the rest of the Third Fleet were ambushed by a huge Cylon fleet. Over a hundred ships were destroyed and twice that number damaged. The loses in human lives went into the hundreds of thousands as I remember. I was an Ensign on my first assignment and was attached to Blue Squadron."

"I thought you were in Bronze Squadron aboard the Rycon?" Apollo said.

"I was, but that was after I did my first tour of duty on the Galactica. I was reassigned to the Rycon while the Galactica was being repaired." Adama told him.

"So what happened? How did you survive?" Tigh asked.

Adama's mind flew back to that fearful day so long ago, when it seemed that the end of everything was about to come into being. How he and the rest of the squadrons of the Third Fleet set out to meet the deadly Cylons in their old fashion Asp fighters, outnumbered five to one.

"We fought them as best we could, but there were so many of them, we ended up retreating. We tried to regroup and attack again, but they never let up their assault. Finally, my father, Commander Adam, ordered us to return to our Battlestars and prepare to retreat. I remember how humiliated he was at having to pull back, but he knew there was no way to win, outnumbered as we were. So we pulled back. My father ordered the fleet to pull out while he held the Galactica back to protect their rear quadrant. It was then that the Penetraters struck."

Adama walked over to his seat on the command dais and sat down heavily, his eyes focused on a memory of long ago. He seemed to age a score of yahren in just the past few centons. Apollo and Tigh walked over to where the Commander sat, worried expressions on their faces.

"How did you all survive father? What did you do to save the Galactica?" Apollo asked softly.

Adama looked up at his son, his eyes focusing of his face. He turned and saw Colonel Tigh looking on with an equally worried look.

"We were coming under heavy attack by the Cylons. The rest of the fleet had pulled out of range so they concentrated their attack on the Galactica. We maneuvered to draw their fighters away from the fleet so as to allow them more time to regroup. My father had just given the order to pull out when something hit the main thrusters. The entire ship shook violently; I remember being thrown to the deck myself as I went back to my fighter. I knew something was dreadfully wrong because I could feel the Galactica slow down. Then there were more explosions, only these were in the landing bays. The Cylons began hitting the launching tubes and the landing bays. This took away our ability to launch our fighters, what few we had left anyway."

Tigh and Apollo nodded their heads, understanding what was to com next.

"There were about a score of them." Adama began. "Our gunners were able to destroy half a dozen or so and the few fighters still in space knocked out another two or three, but the rest made it thru and hit the Galactica with tremendous force. My father ordered all the outer sections of the ship evacuated and sealed to help slow the Cylons down and had every available Warrior take positions to try and repel their attack."

"You went hand to hand with Cylons?" Tigh said, astonished by the mere thought of trying to fight one of those monsters.

"Yes Tigh, hand to hand. Many a good Warrior perished that day. It was a miracle we survived. Perhaps the one thing that helped save us more then any other was when my father ordered all outer hull sections to be blown loose. That sent all but three of the Penetraters spinning off into space. Unfortunately we still had nearly a thousand Cylon Centurions to deal with."

"How did you destroy so many of them Commander?" asked Starbuck, who had joined in the conversation.

"Mostly by using our knowledge of the Galactica to get them into crossfire's and then moving off before they could flank us." Adama said. "We were able to force them into one section of Gamma deck and from there we took our time with them. It took the better part of a secton before we found the last one, but we got it."

"What happened to the rest of the Third Fleet?" Apollo asked.

"They were able to regroup and counter attacked while the Cylons were busy trying to take over the Galactica. With their help, the Galactica was saved, thou over half the crew was dead and we had to be towed back to Caprica."

"Commander, I have the information you requested." Omega called out from his station.

"Transfer it to my station Omega!" Adama said as he turned on his command station. A moment later, the screen was filled with a variety of different symbols, all moving toward the center of the screen.

Toward the Galactica.

Adama studied the readout on his screen and he immediately saw that there was a gap between the Baseships in front of them and those they had just turned away from. He also noticed that the Baseships were beginning to spread out behind them, as if they were trying to block their escape rather then trying to overtake the Galactica. This detail was most strange, and somewhat frightening. Adama had the feeling that the Cylons were trying to "herd" them into this gap.

"It would seem that they have left a gap in their trap, but the question is, did they do it on purpose?" Adama said to no one in particular.

"A trap inside a trap?" Apollo said softly.

"Almost certainly, it would be just the type of thing they would do." Tigh said.

"They've cut off every other means of escape, their forcing us to move in that direction, just like they did at Arcta." Adama said as he ran his finger along the route of which he spoke.

"You don't suppose they have another one of those giant lasers out there do you Commander?" Starbuck said nervously.

"No Starbuck, I don't think so. Whatever they have out there, I doubt that it will be as easy to defeat as that laser was." Adama said as he continued to stare at the screen.

"Easy?" Starbuck thought to himself. "The mission on the ice world the Cylons called Arcta was anything but easy, what with two dead, three others injured and one missing, not to mention the loss of three Viper pilots.

"We have to find out what the Cylons have out in this sector." Adama said tapping the gap in the Cylon forces. "Colonel, have all scanners focus on that sector. We have to find out what it is their up to and how we can avoid it."

"Yes Commander." Tigh replied as he relayed the message to Omega and Athena. They began concentrated scans of the area Adama had indicated and the results were worse then any of them could imagine.

"Commander, long range scan shows a group of no less then five Baseships closing in from that sector." Omega said, the horror of it evident in his voice.

Adama and Tigh looked at each other in total disbelief. Where could the Cylons have gotten so many Baseships? And how could they have gotten so far ahead of them. It just didn't seem possible!

"Well that pretty much seals the trap!" Adama said softly. "We can't go forward, we can't go back and we have no where to run."

All those on the command dais felt a cold chill radiate down their spines at that comment. Had their luck finally run out? Had they played their last card?

"So what now Commander? What can we do?" asked Starbuck.

Adama walked over to the railing and stared out at space for a long moment, and then turned around to face his officers.

"We do the only thing we can do …… FIGHT!" he said with a new fierceness. "We fight like we've never fought before. The time has come for us to quit running and face the Cylons in an all or nothing, winner take all fight."

"But father, we only have a few Vipers left, if even that. We still haven't heard from Bojay." Apollo told him.

"It doesn't matter Apollo. We have no other choice but to go on the offensive." Adama said emphatically. "If we try and fight a defensive battle, we won't last a centar. Our only hope is to hit the Cylons at their weakest point and hope we can punch a hole thru them. If we can do that, we might have a chance."

"A chance at what?" Apollo asked. "Escaping this trap? What then? Do we just head off into deep space, abandoning our people?"

Adama's gaze fell on his son. They had already had this disagreement and there was no good way of solving the issue. He knew there was no way to save all of their people, just like when they left the colonies. The best they could hope for was to save as many as possible. It was a hard, cruel fact. One Adama would have to live with ….. again!

"Colonel, send a coded message to the fleet, inform them that they are to move all personnel off those ships that do not possess faster then light drives to those ships that do. Also have them transfer all fuel and food. Tell them that we will rendezvous with them in three centars and that if they do not hear from us by then, they are too set out at maximum speed in a direction of their own choosing. They are to do whatever they need to do to insure their survival."

Tigh was caught somewhat off guard by this order, but after only a slight hesitation, he had the order passed on via the secured frequency.

Adama then moved over to Omega's station and had him plot the relative positions of the Cylon forces. He entered a few commands on the keyboard and a couple of microns later, a diagram of the Cylon positions appeared on the screen. Adama studied it for a moment then tapped the screen.

"There, that's the spot!" Adama said, still pointing at the screen. "That's where the Cylons are the weakest, just to the right of the Penetraters. If we move swiftly enough, we could slip thru without having to engage them at all."

"Commander, I have Lieutenant Bojay on the com." said Omega cutting in on the Commander.

Adama nodded to Omega and ordered the signal be put thru to his station where he put it on speaker for all those present to hear.

"Lieutenant, it's good to hear from you, what's the situation down there in Beta bay?"

There was a bit of static on the speakers and it was hard to hear over the background noise, but Bojay's voice was understandable.

"Thanks Commander! Things looked pretty bad for awhile, but the damage control teams were able to contain the fires in Beta bay before they got to the fuel stations. Unfortunately, we lost all nine Vipers."

Adama's heart sunk at that bit of news. Without those few Vipers, it would be impossible to keep the Penetraters from attacking. Oh well, it didn't matter. With or without Viper support, they had no other choice but to make a run for it.

"Understood Lieutenant, continue to monitor the situation down there and have all Warriors prepare to repel boarders."

"Boarders!" Bojay exclaimed. "Are the Cylons going to try and board the Galactica Commander?"

"They very well could Lieutenant. I want you to move all personnel on the starboard side of the Galactica into the central core of the ship, well away from the outer sections in case we have to blow them. Do you understand Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir, I'll see to it."

"Good luck Lieutenant. Bridge out!" Adama said as he cut the connection. Then he turned to Colonel Tigh and the others and began issuing orders.

"Colonel, I want you to have all personnel evacuate the outer sections of the ship. Have them move to the central core. I also want every available Warrior prepared to repel any Cylon boarders. Tell them to use any means necessary to stop them, even if it means blowing out a section of the ship. We can not let them take the Galactica!"

Tigh simply nodded his head and began issuing the orders. Adama then turned to Apollo.

"Apollo, I need you, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba to set up a defensive perimeter around the bridge. Secure all routes of egress. We can't let them get to the bridge, no matter what the cost!"

"What if we can't stop them?" Apollo asked. "What do we then father?"

Adama frowned deeply at his son and in a voice as dead of emotions as Apollo had ever heard, he said.

"If worse comes to worse, I will destroy the Galactica rather then let the Cylons have her."


	8. Nightmare? Chapter 8

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Nightmare?**

**Chapter Eight**

**Deep in the bowels of the Cylons new "Command Baseship", a solitary figure sat upon a large seat, much like a throne, atop a high revolving pedestal. The chamber in which the figure resided was dark for the most part, the darkness broken up by only a few spotlights.**

**Three figures entered at that time thru the only visible entry and approached the figure on the pedestal, stopping a short distance from it in one of the few shafts of light. The three new arrivals stood in silence for several moments, waiting to be addressed. When this did not happen, the one standing in the forefront spoke.**

"**By your command." **

**There was no response.**

**The one that spoke turned to its companions and then returned its gaze back to the figure on the pedestal. After nearly a full centon, the figure on the pedestal slowly turned to face the visitors. The seats occupant stared down at the three as if contemplating whether or not they were worthy of a response, then it gave a somewhat curt response.**

"**Speak!"**

"**We have located the Galactica and are now moving into position as per your orders." responded the leader of the small group.**

"**Excellent, how long before our baseships are in place?"**

"**They should all be in their designated positions within the next fifty centons. The Galactica has already suffered extensive damage to her landing bays and nearly all of her Viper squadrons have been neutralized."**

**The figure on the throne laughed maniacally as a menacing grin spread across his face. **

"**Very good Lucifer, very good indeed." Baltar said to his Cylon second in command. "Everything is falling into place, just as I had planned."**

"**So it would seem Baltar, but we both know that in the past, your plans have come undone at the worst possible moment." Lucifer said sarcasticly.**

**The smile on Baltar's face faded quickly at the comment by his subordinate. His past failures had long been a sore spot that Lucifer delighted in bringing up whenever possible.**

"**Do not toy with me Lucifer, I have neither the desire nor the patience to spar with you now." Baltar said in a very dangerous tone. It was a tone that Lucifer had learned meant he was dangerously close to incurring the wrath of his commander.**

"**My apologies Baltar, I meant no disrespect, I only wanted to point out that in the past your plans have not fared all too well." Lucifer said quickly. "Or have you forgotten Kobol, or the time the Pegasus nearly destroyed Gamoray while the Imperious Leader was there, or the time……"**

"**Yes! Yes! I don't need you to remind me!" Balter said angrily. "In the past my plans have meet with some "unforeseen" circumstances that have caused them to fail, but not this time. This time nothing can stop me from capturing the Galactica and avenging myself on Adama! I have assembled the greatest fleet of Baseships the Cylon Empire has ever seen to carry out this plan and nothing ….. NOTHING …… is going to stand in my way!"**

**Lucifer said nothing. He simply stood and watched as Baltar's face contorted into a mask of what he believed would best be described as …… insanity!**


	9. Nightmare? Chapter 9

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Nightmare?**

**Chapter Nine**

Lieutenant Kolbe and the rest of the men and women of the Galactica's Green and Orange Squadrons knew that they faced an uphill battle. They also knew that this would most likely be their last day of existence as well, but they continued on toward what was certain death.

They were Colonial Warriors, and as such they could do no less. It was their solemn duty to protect the fleet and they were bound and determined to do so …… or die in the effort!

And so, Kolbe, Levi, and the rest of the survivors of the two squadrons sailed on in pursuit of their inhuman foe. They had no plan. They would simply catch up to the Cylon fleet and attack, taking as many of them out as they could before they themselves were overwhelmed and turned into atoms.

There was very little chatter on the Viper frequency, just the occasional course correction from Lieutenant Lupo, the group navigator. It seemed that everyone was resigned to the fact that they were about to die and were engrossed in their own thoughts. This bit of distraction was not of any concern to Kolbe thou; he knew that when the time came to engage the Cylons, every pilot's sole focus would be on the task at hand.

"Green four to Green lead, I'm picking up something on the fleet channel." Lieutenant Lupo reported. "Sounds like the Galactica is issuing new orders for the fleet."

"Can you tell what the new orders are?" Kolbe asked.

"It's coded, but I think I can get most of it. It sounds like the Galactica is surrounded by over a dozen Baseships and is going to try and make a run for it. The Commander has ordered all ships to rendezvous with them at position Lamda three in three centars. If no contact is made by then, they are to proceed on their own on a course of their own choosing."

"A dozen Baseships!" Kolbe whispered. There was no way the Galactica could survive an engagement with that many Baseships. Not without a lot of help.

"Green lead to Orange lead, did you hear what Lupo said?"

"Yea, I heard." Lieutenant Levi said, "What do want to do?"

"I think we need to find the Galactica and do whatever we can to insure that she gets away. Any objections?"

"Not from me." Levi said solemnly. "Where do you suppose she is?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I know how to find out." Kolbe responded. "Green lead to Green four, did you by chance get a bearing on that message from the Galactica?"

"You know I did Green Leader, its standard procedure." Lupo said rather confused. "Why do you ask?"

"Give me a vector to a point along a straight line course between where that signal originated and position Lamda three. Take into account that the Galactica will be traveling at top speed and that we will be running on full turbos."

"You're not asking for much, are you?" Lupo said sarcastically as he worked out the equations on his small computer. After only a few centons, Lupo came back with an answer.

"Alright, here it is, turn on course Alpha zero five one. We should intercept the Galactica within thirty centons. That is of course if all the variables you gave me are accurate."

"Best I can do Lupo. Great job thou!" Kolbe said as he switched over to the Viper frequency.

"Green leader to all Vipers, we're about to change course." He told them. "On my mark, we will turn to course Alpha zero five one. We will go to max turbos and with a bit of luck, we will intercept the Galactica. We will then take whatever measures we can to insure that the Galactica is able to get free of the Cylon trap."

Kolbe took a deep breath before he continued.

"I'm sure you all realize that there's little hope that any of us will survive. Odds are that the Galactica will be destroyed before we even get within scanner range of her. That doesn't matter thou. We have all sworn an oath to protect and defend the Galactica, the fleet, and the human race, and by all that is holy, we shall! I don't know how much longer we have left to us, but I want you all to know that it has been a pleasure and an honor to serve with you. There has never been a finer group of Warriors."

Kolbe was silent for several moments, then he gave the order to turn onto the new course and a date with destiny.

Thirty centons later, Kolbe and the survivors of the two squadrons came upon the Galactica. She was engaged in a fierce battle with a group of ships the likes of which Kolbe had never seen before.

"Alright people, there she is." Kolbe said. "Looks like we arrived just in time. Orange Squadron, intercept and destroy those incoming fighters. Green Squadron, lets get after those big ships, whatever they are. Try and keep them away from the Galactica."

"Right, Orange Squadron, you heard the man. Let's get to work!" Levi said.

With that, the forty Vipers of the Orange Squadron moved to engage the Cylon fighters that seemed to be escorting the strange new ships.

"Green Squadron hit em hard, hit em fast and keep hitting em until their gone." Kolbe ordered his meager eleven ships into battle. A battle that would decide the fate of the human race.


	10. Nightmare? Chapter 10

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter 10

On the Galactica's bridge, pandemonium threatened to run amok as the Cylons continued to pursue the beleaguered and dying giant. Everywhere one looked, there was smoke and fire, the result of the Cylons previous attacks on the Battlestar. The number of injured ….. and the dead where beginning to mount as the gallant crew fought on. It was a battle they knew they had little chance of winning.

"Commander, damage control teams report fires moving aft toward number three turbodyne." Colonel Tigh yelled to Commander Adama. "Number two turbodyne has been destroyed. Aft fire teams have set up a perimeter in sections Gamma thru Omega trying to cut the flames off."

"Very well Colonel, have them hold their positions and move the forward fire teams up into Beta and Delta sections." Adama answered. "They'll be able to contain it easier that way and protect turbodyne one."

Tigh nodded his head and passed the orders along. Adama turned back to the scanner screen he had been following the battle on when he heard the familiar voice of his daughter, Athena call to him from her scanners station.

"Father, I'm picking up a group of fighters coming in from Theta sector!"

Adama turned to her and asked, "More Cylons?"

Athena worked her controls for a moment, then a huge grin spread across her face.

"Their not Cylon father, their ours, their Vipers!"

"Thank the Lords of Kobol!", Adama said as he ran over to Athena's station, not able to believe what he had just heard. One look at the screen however confirmed that they were if fact Colonial Vipers! Their transponder signals told him that they were from Green and Orange Squadrons.

But there were so few of them.

"Can you make contact with them Athena?" Adama asked.

"Their just coming into range now father." She said as a voice, distorted by the heavy static could just barely be heard.

"Green leader to Galactica, do you hear me?"

"This is the Galactica Green leader, what is your status?" Adama asked.

"I am inbound with fifty one Vipers sir." Lieutenant Kolbe said "Eleven from Green squadron and all forty from Orange Squadron. We are low on fuel but we should be able to give you some breathing room before we get into our reserves."

"Thank the lords!" Adama whispered to himself, then over the Viper channel, he spoke.

"Very good Lieutenant, if you can just slow down those Penetrators for a few centons, we should be able to get free. Do you think you can do that Lieutenant?"

"We're sure going to find out Commander!" Kolbe said defiantly. "We're commencing our attack on the Cylons now!"

Adama and Athena watched as the pitifully few Vipers of Lieutenant Kolbe's group split into two groups with the larger portion heading off to engage the Cylon fighter squadrons and the smaller group moved toward the Penetrators. It would be a miracle if any of them lasted more then a few centons, outnumbered as they were, but there was no hesitation in the way they moved to the attack.

Lieutenant Levi and his squadron charged forward to meet the Cylon squadrons head on. They were outnumbered more then twenty to one, but that didn't matter. They had to push the Cylons away from the Galactica no matter what the cost. Failure to do so would mean certain death for the human race.

"Alright people, here they come." Levi said. "Let's hit em in force then break off into our battle pairs. Remember to stay with your wingmate and watch your tails. And keep an eye on your fuel gauges, don't run out or you're dead meat. If you run low, head for the Galactica and refuel. Everybody ready?"

The pilots of Orange Squadron replied as one with their traditional volley of laser fire as the came within range of the leading units of the Cylon forces.

The Cylons had pulled back from the Galactica momentarily when the Vipers from Green and Orange Squadrons appeared out of the darkness of space. Not knowing from wince they came or how many they were, the Cylon squadron commander called for an immediate retreat and regrouping with the Penetrators. When the Cylon commander discovered that there were only fifty one Vipers facing his squadrons, it ordered it's fighters to return to their attack on the Galactica.

The Vipers of Orange Squadron struck the Cylon formation like a hammer hitting glass as the concentrated fire of the forty ships utterly destroyed any ship that stood before them. They continued on thru the Cylon formation until they came out the far end. Once there, Levi ordered his troops to break off into their battle pairs and to attack at will.

And so, the Vipers of Orange Squadron began the fight of their lives as they began peeling back toward the rear of the Cylon formation. Most of the Cylon fighters did not engage the human squadrons, but rather, continued on toward the Galactica. Only a small portion of the huge formation, less then a hundred Raiders, had turned back to engage the Colonials. With odds of little more then two to one, the Colonials were for the first time in yahren had the advantage, and they took full advantage of the boon.

"Let's go people, let's get after em!" Levi called out to his squadron. He wanted to finish off the small group dispatched to take care of his squadron quickly so that they could go after the large formation that was advancing toward the Galactica. He knew if he couldn't find some way to stop those fighters, the Galactica was doomed!

Kolbe and his meager force of ten Vipers, all that remained of his squadron, moved to intercept and hopefully destroy the strange looking ships that now approached the Galactica. He had never seen vessels remotely similar to these and could not even begin to fathom their use. They had long, tapered forward sections and rather small, disproportionate drive section at the rear. They were traveling at a moderate speed along an intercept course with the Galactica. Judging from their size however, Kolbe believed that these strange craft were some sort of transports.

"Okay folks; let's hit these rust buckets fast and hard!" He said to his unit. "Go for the thrusters if you can and watch out for any fighters that come after us. Alright Green Squadron, let's do it! Good luck and good hunting!"

The eleven ships of the Green Squadron went to full battle thrusters and streaked away, on course for the first of the strange ships. As they neared weapons range, they were intercepted by a phalanx of Cylon fighters that had until then remained hidden behind the large craft. Kolbe had his people make a run at the "transports" instead of trying to engage the fighters since there was a good chance that their small number would not be sufficient to fight off the Cylon fighters and destroy the transports. Their best bet was to apply "Hit and run" tactics to the transports and hope to stay one step ahead of the Cylon fighters.

"Davi, you and Kort hit the first ship. Reeber, you and Briar take the second ship, Stowler and Griggs, the third." Kolbe ordered. "The rest of you war-daggits are on me. We'll provide the attack groups with as much cover as possible."

Acknowledgements came from each ship as they split up to make their runs. The Cylon fighters that had been hiding behind the Penetrators moved in to try and cut off the Colonials, but the superior speed and maneuverability of the Vipers made this a lost cause as the Vipers swung around the Cylon fighters and headed in on the large, slow moving craft.

The first run at the Penetrators was highly successful as the Vipers sweep in from their rear quadrant, giving them easy targets. The pairs of Vipers that Kolbe had designated for attack runs had great success as they flew over their intended targets, firing at will as they flew by. All three groups scored direct hits on the Penetrators, causing huge explosions and fires to erupt from the drive sections of each. Once they had completed their attack runs, the Vipers of Green squadron made a hard turn to port, toward the Galactica.

Kolbe looked back at the three Penetrators they had just attacked to see what kind of damage they had caused. What he saw was most encouraging! All three Penetrators were on fire and one had lost a portion of its drive section. All three appeared to be adrift.

He turned back and ordered his troops to begin the first turn of what would be a figure eight pattern that would lead them back over the Penetrators. He hoped that they could get at least two more solid runs at them before the Cylons caught on to what they were doing. But that was not to be.

As soon as they had finished their run, the Cylons fighters split up and were now coming at them from two directions. Kolbe's plan had been ruined before it even had time to get started. Now he and his people had to go on the defensive and hope for another opening on the strange looking ships.

"Listen up people, time to make tracks." Kolbe called over the Green Squadron frequency. "Regroup and let's see if we can draw these tin cans off. We'll try and work our way back in a few centons."

"Sounds good to me" Lieutenant Kort responded. "But I think you should know, my fuel is getting pretty low!"

Kolbe looked down at his own fuel gauges and discovered that he too was getting close to his reserves."

"My fuel cells are running low too and I seriously doubt we'll have time to refuel." Kolbe told them. "We might just have to fly till we're dry people!"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Kort.

"I mean that if worse comes to worse and we start running out of fuel, we do whatever it takes to save the Galactica, even if we have to ram these rust buckets."

"You're not serious!" Ensign Gallo said incredulously.

"That is exactly what I mean Ensign, we use whatever means possible to stop them! If that means we have to sacrifice ourselves, then so be it! The important thing is to get the Galactica clear of this trap. That is our one and only priority."

The silence on the com system was deafening, as each of the pilots of Green Squadron realized what Kolbe was saying. They had always known that someday they might have to die in order to save the fleet and the Galactica, but none had ever really expected that day to come.

Especially not today!

"Look, I know that none of you expected anything like this to happen when you woke up this morning, I know I sure didn't! But this is the job we all signed up for, we're Colonial Warriors, and that means we are responsible for the protection of the Galactica and the fleet. I don't want to die any more then you do, but I swore an oath to protect and defend the colonies and the fleet, and by the Lords of Kobol, I will do just that!"

There was another long silence before Lieutenant Kort came on channel.

"Alright skipper, lets make those galmonging Cylons regret the day they crossed paths with Green Squadron!"

The Viper channel came to life with the voices of the other members of Green Squadron.

All except Ensign Gallo.

"Green Squadron has inflicted heavy damage to three of the Penetrators Commander." Omega reported as he monitored the battle. "One ship is adrift while the other two have come to complete stops."

Adama nodded his head.

"Good, good, that cuts the odds down some!" he said to Tigh, who was standing next to him, directing the damage control teams. "Now if we can just slip past the rest of them, we might be able to make a run for it!"

"Don't forget Adama, we've already lost turbodyne number two and number three is in jeopardy." Tigh reminded him. "If we lose number three, we won't stand a ….."

Tigh didn't have a chance to finish because at that moment, the entire ship was rocked by an explosion from deep within the bowels of the vessel. Adama and Tigh were thrown to the deck as the lights throughout the Battlestar went dark. Several microns passed before the emergency lights came on, revealing the devastation that had occurred.

The number three turbodyne, which had been in the path of the spreading fire had finally blown. That alone was devastating enough, but had the solium cells ruptured and ignited, the Galactica would have turned into a fireball. As it was, there was now a gapping hole in the heart of the Galactica and she slowly began to lose headway.

Adama struggled to his feet, trying to find out what had just happened. At first he thought they had been hit by the mega pulsars of one of the Cylon Baseships, but they were still well out of range, so it had to be something else. But what?

"Commander, I've lost all contact with the damage control teams." Omega said from his console.

Adama thought for a moment then realized that one of the turbodyne's had to have blown to cause such an explosion. He also realized that if that was the case, there was no way they were going to outrun the Cylons. As much as he hated to admit it, their luck had just run out. He walked over to his command console and placed his headset on his head, then he opened up the ship wide intercom.

"All hands, this is Commander Adama speaking. We have just lost our propulsion system and are now adrift. The Cylon battle fleet is closing in and will soon over take us. There is little hope that the few Vipers we still have will be able to defend us, therefore I am ordering all hands to go to your abandon ship stations and leave the Galactica immediately. I will give orders to our remaining Vipers to rendezvous with the shuttles and escape pods and escort you to the fleet where you will proceed on whatever course Colonel Croft decides to take. Those of us staying behind will do whatever we can to cover your escape. I send with you my blessings and the blessings of the Lords of Kobol."

He then took the head set off and placed it on the console. He stood silently for a moment then turned to see that all hands on the bridge staring at him, including Colonel Tigh.

"Commander, are you sure you want to abandon ship?" Tigh asked. "There has to be something we can do!"

Adama walked over to his old friend and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Tigh, we've lost propulsion." Adama said sadly. "We're dead in space. The best we can do now is get as many people off the ship as possible and when the Cylons get close, blow up the Galactica and take them with us."

"Adama, if that is what you think we should do, then I'm with you." Tigh said as he grasped the Commander's wrists. "We'll make them regret the day they ever started this damned war!"

"Yes we will!"

Out in space, the Warriors of the Galactica's Orange Squadron were doing everything within their power to hold back the never ending masses of Cylon fighters, but outnumbered as they were, it was very apparent that they would not win the day. They had started their attack with forty Vipers and a lot of courage, now there were only sixteen of them left, and those few were now resigned to the fate that was theirs.

"Orange nine to Orange leader, my fuel is almost gone!" yelled a frightened voice over the Viper channel.

"We're all running out Dag!" Levi said as he sweep in on another group of Cylon fighters. "Break off and head for the Galactica."

"Orange nine acknowledges."

Levi glanced off to his left to see the lone Viper heading off in the direction of the Galactica and he wondered if he would ever see young Ensign Dag again. He had already sent a dozen ships off to refuel and so far, not one of them had returned. It was as if there was a giant hole out in space that kept swallowing up his pilots. But he had little time to worry about it now. He just had another score of Cylon fighters move in behind him and had to get back down to the business of staying alive.

It was at that moment that a huge flash caught Levi's eye. It came from the direction that Ensign Dag had flown off in, but was far too large to have been his Viper. This was something much larger. Levi realized that there was only one ship large enough to make that big of a fireball ….. the Galactica! A few moments later, the voice of Colonel Tigh came over the Viper channel.

"Galactica to all Vipers, we are abandoning ship! I repeat, we are abandoning ship! Your orders are to break off immediately and rendezvous with the shuttles and escape pods and escort them to the fleet. May the Lords of Kobol watch over you all, Galactica out!"

Levi could barely believe what he had just heard. The Commander was going to abandon the Galactica! Things must have gone seriously wrong if the Commander was abandoning ship. Levi opened up the Orange Squadron frequency and ordered all his remaining Vipers to break off from the Cylons and make for the Galactica. He received acknowledgments from only thirteen pilots, having lost three more in the past few centons. The Cylons began pursuing their human foe as soon as they broke off, but with their superior speed, the Vipers were out of range before they could stop them.

Kolbe and his people were still trying to find an opening to the strange looking transports, what was it the Commander called them, "Penetrators", when he heard the recall. He too was shocked at the prospect of the Galactica being abandoned.

"Did you hear that Kolbe? Their abandoning the Galactica!" Kort said over the Viper Channel.

"Yea, I heard. Things must have really gone sour if the Commander is abandoning ship."

"So what do we do now?" asked Gallo.

"We don't have enough fuel to reach the Galactica as it is, let alone escort the escape pods to the fleet." Kolbe said. "Therefore I'm ordering each of you to do whatever you can to protect and defend the Galactica, the escape pods, and the fleet. You can take that any way you want it. If you want to try and make it back to the Galactica, you have my blessings to do so. As for me, I'm going to go out facing the enemy. If any of you would care to join me, I will be executing a one hundred eighty degree turn in fifty microns. I wish you all the best of luck and may the Lords of Kobol bless you."

Kolbe counted down the microns, knowing that this would be his last battle. He surprisingly felt no fear. He was very calm, to the point of almost serenity, his mind at peace with what was about to transpire. He had lost his entire family in the attack on the colonies and had never really become too close to anyone aboard the Galactica except those few people from the Pacifica that had survived the Cimtar disaster. No, Kolbe was at peace with what was about to come and would face the hated Cylons with no fear.

As he approached the end of his countdown, he opened the Viper channel.

"Green leader to Green Squadron, I am making my turn to port in three…..two…..one…..executing!"

On his mark, Kolbe threw his control stick hard over to port, taking his Viper into a hard, one hundred eighty degree turn. As he came out of the turn he looked back over his left shoulder, expecting to see the rest of Green Squadron heading back toward the Galactica, but what he saw filled him with surprise and pride. There, following him in formation were five Vipers. He quickly looked over the other shoulder and found five more Vipers riding in perfect unison off his starboard wing.

All ten members of Green Squadron had stayed with him!

Kolbe hit the Viper channel switch and said to his people, "Alright people, lets make this one for the history scrolls. Assume wedge formation. We're going to plow right thru those fighters and go after those transports. Hit em with everything you got. If you run out of fuel…..well, you all know what to do. It's been a pleasure serving with you. Good luck and good hunting!"

With that said, the eleven Vipers of the Galactica's Green Squadron engaged the Cylons one last time. They hit the Cylon fighters with a hail of fire, blowing a huge hole thru their formation. Once they had cleared the Cylon attack phalanx, they drove straight for the Penetrators. Without breaking formation, the Vipers attacked the Penetrators one after another, causing considerable damage as they went.

One of the Penetrators lost its attitude control system and veered off course, directly into the side of another of the large craft. The two ships became one massive conflagration before finally exploding in a star-like fireball.

This was a welcome site to the pilots of Green Squadron, but they had little thought for celebration at that time. Their only concern was to destroy the remaining Penetrators before they ran out of fuel…..or were themselves destroyed. They continued to press the attack, firing at any target that came within range, always aware that the next micron could be their last. They scored hits on four more Penetrators before the inevitable happened.

Their fuel had run out!

Kolbe was the first to feel the sputtering of his engines. He immediately cut the fuel to his number one engine, hoping this would give him a few more microns to do what he knew he had to do.

"Green leader to all units, my fuel is out! I'm running on vapors." He told them. "My last order to you is to make them pay for what they did. Take as many of them with you as possible. Fight on Warriors! Fight on!"

With that said, Kolbe aimed his Viper at the closest Penetrator and hit his turbos. He started firing as soon as he was in range, causing explosions and fires to erupt from what he believed was the control center. He continued to fire right up until he crashed his ship into the bridge of the Cylon vessel.

"Dear lord! Did you see that?" exclaimed Gallo as the members of Green Squadron watched Kolbe's suicide attack.

"Yea Gallo, we all say it!" Kort said. "And I think its time we all think about doing the same thing! I say we each pick a ship and take the damn thing out!"

There was an over whelming consensus, all except Gallo, who said he couldn't commit suicide because of his religious beliefs. The others didn't believe him, thinking he was just too cowardly to make the sacrifice, but they didn't say anything. They simply ignored him and made their plans to follow Kolbe's example.

"Alright then, everyone pick a ship and make your attacks." Kort said. "It's been my honor to serve with you all. God's speed my friends."

"We'll see you on the other side! Ensign Gawin said.

Then the remaining ten Vipers of Green Squadron split up, each heading for a different Penetrator. All except Gallo, who decided he would try and make a run for it. His fuel indicator still read more then a hundred kilons, more then enough to make it back to the Galactica. So he turned his ship back toward the Galactica and headed off to what he hoped would be safety. He however forgot one very important thing. That between him and the Galactica were hundreds of Cylon fighters that were at that very moment closing in on him from all sides.

Gallo didn't bother to check his scanner, in fact he had turned it off as well as his homing beacon and any other electronic devices that would give his position away. He hoped that by doing this, he could slip thru the Cylons and reach the Galactica unseen.

He was wrong.

Dead wrong!

Gallo had only been underway for about ten centons when a group of Cylon fighters surrounded him.

Gallo was scared senseless! He never saw them coming. Everywhere he looked, there were Cylons. It was at that moment he knew he would never see the Galactica, nor anything else again. He was about to die…..alone. Gallo's hand fell from the control stick of his Viper into his lap as he stared out his canopy at all the Cylon fighters. His Viper began to slow down, causing the Cylons behind him to alter their course to avoid hitting the human craft. Those that were in front of the Viper began turning around, not sure what the human was trying to do.

After several centons of coasting along on inertia, Gallo's Viper came to a stop. He still sat there, motionless, staring blankly into the blackness of space. He no longer saw the Cylons that swarmed around him, or the stars off in the distance. His mind had taken him away from all that, away from all the horrors of reality. Gallo was in a world all his own. He was back on Pisceria, at his uncle's estate. His uncle was a prosperous merchant who had just recently been chosen to the Council of the Twelve. He had been given this great honor because of his work in bringing about a peace treaty with the Cylons.

Uncle Baltar had become the greatest hero of the age!

But wait! Baltar wasn't a hero. He had betrayed the colonies! He had conspired with the Cylons to help destroy the fleet. To destroy the Colonies! Uncle Baltar was not the greatest hero of the age!

He was the greatest TRAITOR of the age! Of all-time!

Gallo snapped out of his dream-like state just as the Cylon ship directly in front of him fired. Gallo instinctively grabbed his control stick and managed to get off several shots of his own before his Viper was vaporized.

The other members of Green Squadron met their fates in a much different manner then had Gallo. They had each chosen to follow Lieutenant Kolbe's example, to make one last suicide attack on the large, slow moving ships that Commander Adama had called "Penetrators". And so they did. In all, they scored hits on six of the Cylon vessels, destroying two and crippling one other. Their courage and sacrifice, thou great, was not enough. There were still four Penetrators left, and they were on their way to the Galactica.

On the Galactica bridge, Adama was trying to get everyone he could off the ship and into the escape pods. He knew there was little time and even less chance that any of them would survive even if they did get off, but he had to try! He wanted his daughter and grandson, Boxey off the Galactica but Athena refused to leave and so far, nobody could find Boxey.

Colonel Tigh stepped up next to him with another report. The look on his face told Adama it wasn't good news.

"Commander, our Vipers have broken off their attacks and are returning to the Galactica. They report that they are all dangerously low on fuel and request permission to land and get as much fuel as possible before the Cylons close in again."

"Can we land and refuel them in Beta landing bay?"

Tigh shook his head and said, "The last report we had from Beta bay was that the landing and refueling facilities were still operational, but that was before number three turbodyne blew. We've heard nothing from them since."

Adama thought for a moment, then told Tigh to have as many Vipers as was possible land and refuel. Tigh nodded and passed the orders along. Adama wondered if any of them would survive the day.

The Vipers of Orange Squadron arrived at the Galactica well ahead of their Cylon pursuers and were greeted by a horrific site. The Alpha landing bay was missing from the left side of the ship with only the tattered stubs of what had once been the support struts remained. It was clear to Levi that the landing bay had been separated purposely for some reason because of the evenness of the supports.

But this was the least of the visible damage to the ancient warship, for the entire drive section was literally hanging on by a tread. On the port side, aft of the center support strut was a gapping hole that ran clear across the Galactica to a point just aft of the last support going to Beta landing bay. The only thing keeping the drive section connected to the ship at all was a few dozen cables and what was left of perhaps three or four bulkheads. The entire drive section floated off at an angle, across and above the opening to Beta landing bay. Levi wondered if he was returning to a ghost ship.

"Holy Frak! What happened?" asked someone on the open channel.

"Looks like they got hit by a Baseship or something." Another voice said.

"Alright you guy's, stow the chatter." Levi admonished them, then he tried to raise the bridge.

"Orange leader to Galactica, come in please."

Nothing.

"Orange leader to Galactica, please respond." Levi tried again.

After a few microns, a staticy signal could be heard.

"Galac…here, what is…. status?"

The voice was that of Commander Adama. Levi moved his Viper as close to the bridge as possible, hoping to improve the signal.

"I hear you sir but you're breaking up. Please repeat."

"What is your status Lieutenant?" came Adama's voice, much clearer this time.

"I have twelve ships with me sir. What are your orders?"

"Can you tell me how much damage we've sustained Lieutenant?" Adama asked, knowing the answer would not be good.

"Yes sir, you've lost the entire drive section and Alpha landing bay. There's a hole thru the entire primary hull running diagonally from amidships on the port side to just aft of the last landing bay support strut on the starboard side. I'd say everything aft of the number one turbodyne is gone sir."

It was worse then he had feared. He had thought that the turbodynes blowing up like that would have only taken out a few sections of the ship, not bisected it as it seemed to have done. The last hope of saving the Galactica faded from his heart.

"Understood Lieutenant, can you and your squadron make it into the landing bay and refuel?"

"We'll sure give it a try sir." Levi said.

"Good, then proceed to Beta landing bay and take on as much fuel as you can before the Cylons get within range." Adama told him. "As soon as your people launch, join up with the escape pods and take them to the rendezvous point with the fleet. Colonel Croft will be in command from this day forward. Follow his orders as you would mine and he will lead you to safety. Good luck Lieuten……good luck Levi."

The com signal went dead.

Levi pulled his Viper around and joined his squadron which was circling the Galactica and told them what the Commander had said.

"So what about the Galactica? What are they going to do, just leave it behind?" asked Ensign Lundy.

"I doubt it, the Commander would scuttle her before he lets the Cylons have her. Whatever the case, we have a job to do so let's get on the deck and see to it." Levi said definitively.

The Vipers of Orange Squadron made their way to the opening to Beta landing bay. There were only a few landing lights operating inside the bay and the wreckage from the drive section hung precariously close to the entry making landing anything but easy. Levi saw this and told his people to take extra precaution when making their approaches, then he led the way in.

He made his approach from what was almost a right angle to the landing bay, making his turn into the bay at less then twenty metrons from the landing bay opening. Inertia caused Levi's Viper to move sideways farther then he intended, thus causing him to clip the far wall of the landing bay. If not for the fact he had been moving at such a slow rate of speed, Levi most likely would have crashed and burned. Instead he only damaged the left side stableator on his Viper. He continued on, finding that the environmental fields that provided a breathable atmosphere in the bay was not working nor was the artificial gravity. This was going to be much more difficult then he had planned on.

Levi slowly made his was down thru the landing bay to the fueling stations where he found them to be intact. He landed at the nearest station and after sealing his helmet and flight suit, popped his canopy. Even thou they were not truly designed or intended for zero G and zero atmosphere, the flight suits and helmets could sustain a person for short periods of time in the vacuum of space. Levi dismounted from his cockpit and moved over to the fueling station. He tried the control panel, but found it had no power. He switched the control lever over to manual and hooked up the fueling lines and grounding straps to his Viper. With that done, he began the process of hand pumping the fuel into his ship.

One after another, the ships of Orange Squadron made their way to the fueling stations and began refueling their ships by hand. Ensign Lundy was the last to land and had to wait, as there were only eight stations. As she sat in her cockpit watching the others, she noticed something off to one side of the bay in the shadows. She pulled out a hand lamp and shined the beam in the direction of the object. She let out a scream as the light fell upon the body of a Warrior.

"Lundy, is that you?" called Levi as he was finishing the fuel transfer to his Viper. "What's wrong?"

"There's a body floating over there!" she said, not realizing that Levi couldn't see where she was pointing.

"Where?" Levi asked as he moved around to where he could see Lundy.

"Over by that access hatch." She said and shined her light in the direction of the corpse. Levi and Flight Sergeant Viara moved closer to the dead Warrior and gasped as they recognized who it was.

"It's Bojay!" said Levi sadly. He pulled out a small hand lamp that he always carried with him and shined it on the mans face.

"Looks like he was caught out here when the landing bay decompressed." Viara said.

Levi was about to check the hatch when a call came in from Ensign Wheeler, who had been given the job of monitoring the Cylons that were following them.

"Hey Levi, those Cylons are about five centons out and closing fast. You might want to think about wrapping things up and getting out of there."

"Right, we're on our way out. You get your butt in here and grab as much fuel as you can, then get out. We'll rendezvous with the escape pods and take them to the fleet." Levi told him. Then he told all those pilots that had already refueled to launch immediately and head for the rendezvous point.

The other three Vipers that had been waiting to refuel were moving into the vacated fueling stations and beginning to refuel as the first of the Vipers from Orange Squadron launched for the last time off the Galactica. As they made their way toward the rendezvous point, they each cast a glance back at the Galactica. The last of her kind, she was a sad site to behold. Broken and battered, with no power to defend herself, she would soon cease to exist. Four centons later, the last four Vipers from Orange Squadron left Beta landing bay and rendezvoused with Levi and the others. With all hands accounted for, He led the way toward the escape pods and an uncertain future.


	11. Nightmare? Chapter 11

Battlestar Galactica

Nightmare?

Chapter 11

Apollo had just finished going over the last of the defensive assignments when all Hades broke out. He was standing in a corridor outside rejuvenation center two talking over the details of the defensive assignments with council security officer Reese when suddenly the deck seemed to leap up from under them, throwing both men off their feet. The ship continued to shake and rock for several microns making it impossible for them to stand. Then the lights went out. After several microns, the emergency lights came on, revealing several buckled deck plates and bulkheads.

Finally the shaking subsided enough for Apollo to regain his feet. He looked around, trying to figure out what had caused the upheaval.

"What in Hades was that?" Reese yelled as he pulled himself up from the deck.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out!" Apollo told him as he ran over to a com unit on the wall. After a few microns, he slammed the handset back into its cradle.

"The com system is down. Whatever that was, it caused a lot of damage. Stay here Reese and take over. I'm heading for the bridge to find out what's going on."

"Right!" Reese said as Apollo took off at a full run heading for the bridge.

On the other side of the Galactica, Boomer and Starbuck were setting up a defensive perimeter near the turbo lifts from Beta landing bay when the entire ship began to shake and bounce. Boomer was able to catch onto a railing but Starbuck was tossed to the deck. The lights went out, throwing the corridor into darkness. Several microns past before the emergency lights began to click on, allowing them to see where they were and what was around them.

"Hey Starbuck, you alright?" Boomer called to his friend who laid several metrons away under so fallen debris.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Help me get out from under this felgercarb will ya!" Starbuck said as he tried to free himself.

"Sure thing. What in Sagen's name do you suppose that was?" Boomer said as he lifted a piece of junk off of Starbuck.

"Beats me Boomer, but I think we should split up and alert the other posts to be ready just in case that was one of those Penetraters the Commander told us about."

The two Warriors took off in different directions to warn their fellow Warriors that the battle for the Galactica was about to begin.

Apollo arrived on the bridge just after his father had passed the word to abandon ship. He was shocked to hear those words come from his father.

"What's happened father? Why are you abandoning the Galactica?" he asked, his voice full of emotion.

"Apollo, I have no other choice! We just lost our thrusters and are without power except for our emergency batteries and they will only last about three centars." Adama told his son sadly. "The only thing we can do now is get our people off the Galactica and hope that they can rendezvous with the fleet."

Adama turned away from his son and stared out the front view screen. "We have to face the truth Apollo, the Galactica is finished!"

"Then we need to get you to one of the escape pods!" Apollo said. "Our people are going to need your strength and leadership now more then ever."

"Adama shook his head and turned to face Apollo.

"No Apollo, I won't be going with you and the others. Colonel Tigh and I will be staying aboard. We have a little surprise planned for the Cylons when they come to claim their "prize"."

"What are talking about father? What kind of surprise?" Apollo asked, but before his father could utter a word, he knew what he was talking about.

"NO! You can't be serious! What good can come from you and Colonel Tigh committing suicide by blowing up the Galactica?"

"It's the only way we can be sure that our people get away safely and that the Cylons don't get their hands on the Galactica." Adama told him.

"You can just as easily set the Galactica's self destruct system to run on a timer and leave with the rest of us." Apollo countered.

"I would if I could Apollo, but we don't have enough power to do that. The self destruct will have to be operated manually."

"Then I'll stay behind and do it!" Apollo said sternly.

"No Apollo, I can't allow that. This is my responsibility as Commander of this vessel. Besides, our people will need you to help protect them more then ever once the Galactica is gone."

"Our people need you!" Apollo said, thou he already knew that it was useless to argue. His father had made up his mind and would not be swayed.

"What about Athena and Boxey? Where are they?" Apollo asked.

"I don't know for sure." Adama said, shaking his head. "I told Athena to go find Boxey, but that was before the turbodyne blew up and took out our communications. I haven't heard a thing since then."

"Then I'll go find them." Apollo said and he left the bridge heading for his quarters.

In Apollo's quarters, Athena had just stepped inside when the deck suddenly came up and propelled her across the room. She landed on the top of a small table that sat in front of Apollo's sofa. She bounced off the table and onto the sofa before finally landing on the floor. She lay their somewhat dazed for a moment while the ship continued to shake violently. The lights in the room went dark for several microns, then the emergency lights came on. Athena pulled herself up off the floor and onto the sofa. She was still slightly dazed, but was able to sit upright. She looked around the room, trying to get her bearings, then she remembered, she was in Apollo's quarters looking for Boxey.

"Boxey! Are you in here?" she yelled.

No answer.

Athena got up off the sofa and walked somewhat unsteadily to the sleeping area. She looked around the room and didn't see Boxey or his ever present robotic daggit, Muffet anywhere. She turned to leave when she heard what sounded like a bark. She peered back into the room and noticed the door to the closet was slightly ajar. She then heard a "whirring" sound coming from the closet. She went to the door and looked inside. There on the floor of the closet was Boxey. He was lying under a pile of boxes and other gear that looked as if it had fallen on top of him. Muffet was sitting next to him making soft growling and barking noises.

"Good boy Muffet." Athena said softly to the mechanical daggit. "Let's get Boxey out of here and to someplace a whole lot safer."

She stepped around the daggit and pulled the unconscious boy out from under the pile of boxes. Then she carried him out of the closet and laid him on the table, looking to see if he had any serious injuries. Finding none, she picked him up again and headed for the bridge with Muffet close on her heels.

Apollo was half way to his quarters when he found Athena coming around a corner at a full sprint carrying Boxey. He could tell right away that the boy was unconscious.

"What happened?" Apollo asked as he approached.

"Some things fell on him in your closet. He seems to be alright thou." Athena told him. Just then the boy opened his eyes.

"Dad, my head hurts." He said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Apollo ran his hand thru his son's hair gently and smiled.

"I know Boxey, we'll have Cassiopeia take a look at it, okay?" he said.

"Okay." Boxey said and drifted off again.

Apollo took Boxey from Athena and turned to go to the Life Center when the Galactica was rocked again by an unknown force. Athena grabbed onto a railing with one hand and Apollo with the other, keeping him and Boxey from falling. The sound of metal being ripped and torn echoed thru the corridor.

"What was that?" Athena yelled, trying to be heard over the noise.

"I have no idea, but it wasn't a turbodyne blowing up, that's for sure." Apollo said. "I think we should head for the bridge."

The two Warriors and the small boy ran down the corridor, making their way to the bridge, but as they rounded a corner, they came face to face with their worse nightmare.

There were Cylon Centurions on the Galactica!

Apollo and Athena stopped dead in their tracks, unable to believe their eyes. Their shock was broken when one of the Centurions spotted them and began firing. Both Warriors flattened out against the sides of the corridor and drew their laser pistols and began firing at the Cylons. The first four fell in quick succession, but a dozen more stepped over the smoldering bodies of the fallen and continued the assault.

"Athena, take Boxey and head for the bridge. Go thru Delta section, I'll try and slow them down here and lead them off thru Gamma section." Apollo shouted.

Athena took the boy and ran down the corridor, turning left at the first intersecting corridor. Apollo held his ground long enough for Athena to get around the corner and out of sight of any Cylons that might get by him. Then he took off after her, only he kept going straight as he headed for the starboard side of the ship. He hoped that they would follow him, thus allowing Athena and Boxey time to get to the bridge. As he reach the next junction, Apollo turned and fired several volleys down the corridor he had just run thru, striking three Centurions dead on, then he turned and ran a bit farther until he heard laser fire coming from up ahead.

Apollo ran down to the next junction and peeked around the corner. There he saw a small knot of Warriors fighting valiantly against a large number of Centurions and right in the middle of the fray was Starbuck. He was knelt down, firing away with a laser pistol in each hand. Apollo was so engrossed by the scene in front of him that he momentarily forgot about the Cylons that were following him. A laser blast just above his head reminded him that he was in between two groups of Cylons now. He turned quickly and fired several blasts down the passageway, then stepped around the corner and yelled to Starbuck and his group.

"Starbuck, get out of there! Fall back to Beta section now!" he yelled.

Starbuck was caught off guard by Apollo's voice behind him and when he turned his head to look, he lost his balance and fell sideways.

This just happen to save his life!

As he fell sideways, a laser bolt flew by a nanomicron after, just missing his head. It passed close enough that it actually singed his hair. Starbuck immediately returned fire and destroyed the Cylon that had almost ended his life. Then he regained his feet and began ordering the Warriors and crewmen that were fighting there by his side to fall back to Beta section where they had set up their strongest……and last line of defense.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on the bridge!" Starbuck yelled over the laser fire.

"I was, but I had to find Boxey and Athena." Apollo told him as the two senior Warriors fought a rear guard action, allowing the others time to escape.

"Did you find them?"

"We found each other. Then the Cylons found us!" Apollo said, drilling two more Centurions. "Looks like Kolbe didn't quite get all of those Penetraters."

"You're telling me, one of those things hit just twenty metrons away from where I was standing!" Starbuck said, "killing" two more Cylons as they went. "We've been fighting and giving ground ever since."

The two Warriors stopped at a junction and used the cover of the cross corridors for protection as they set up a crossfire. Starbuck tossed Apollo an extra laser pistol that he had in his holster and continued firing.

"Where'd you get all the laser pistols?" Apollo asked as he employed the two pistols with great effect.

"From the guys that didn't make it!" Starbuck said glumly.

The two Warriors wiped out two score Centurions in a matter of a few centons, causing a bottleneck in the corridor. The more Cylons that tried to attack, the higher the pile of bodies became. Finally, the Cylons backed off and were gone. Apollo and Starbuck took advantage of this and made tracks for Beta section.

Athena held Boxey close to her chest as she ran thru the corridors of the great Battlestar. Several times she heard laser fire coming from down side passageways and thou she desperately wanted to go and help her fellow Warriors, she knew she had to protect Boxey and make sure he was safe, so she kept going till she reached the bridge.

Adama and Tigh were working on the self destruct system when Athena came running onto the bridge carrying Boxey. She laid him in the chair at her scanner control station. Then she turned and hugged her father, who had followed her.

"Thank the Lords you two are alright. I've been worried sick about you." He said to her, then he stepped over to Boxey and placed a hand on the boys head. "What happened to Boxey? Is he alright?"

"I think he's fine father, just a bit shook up is all." She told him.

"You should have taken him to the Life Center." Adama said.

"We were going to, but there are Cylons all over the ship. We couldn't get to the Life Center."

"We? Who was with you?" Adama asked.

"Apollo, we ran into each other in the corridors. We started heading for the Life Center but were cut off by a large group of Cylons in Theta section. Apollo drew them off while I brought Boxey here." She told him. "Father, the Cylons are everywhere. I heard fighting all over. I think their heading this way."

Adama looked over at Colonel Tigh, who had walked over to hear what Athena had to report. He knew their time was almost gone.

"How much longer before we can detonate manually Tigh? Adama asked.

"At least another ten centons Commander. This was never meant to be done manually." Tigh told him.

"Ten centons!" Adama whispered as he turned to face his daughter. He wanted to tell her to grab Boxey and run to the last of the escape pods, but he knew it was already too late for that. If the Cylons had already boarded using their Penetraters, they would have several squadrons flying nearby to prevent anyone from escaping. He only prayed that those people that had gotten away earlier had made it without being detected.

"Athena, I need you to take and find any personnel you can and do whatever you can to secure the bridge. Anyone you can find that can hold a laser pistol is to take up positions on the barricades. You have to buy Colonel Tigh and I ten centons. Can you do that?"

"I'll do my best sir!" she said as she came to attention and saluted, something she had never done before. Then she hugged her father one last time and left the bridge for the final defense of the Galactica.

Apollo and Starbuck finally reached the barricade that had been set up earlier as a last line of defense. Here they had set up two of the powerful laser cannons that were used by the Warrior assault teams and outpost security battalions. They had the equivalent fire power of a score of laser rifles and a much higher rate of fire. A single blast could easily destroy a dozen Centurions.

As the two Warriors slipped thru the one opening in the defensive wall, they were greeted by Boomer.

"Well it's about time you two showed up! I thought we were going to have to do this without you!" he said jokingly.

"We wouldn't miss this for the world!" Starbuck said. "We just thought we'd trim them down a little before they got here."

"Boomer, where's Sheba?" Apollo asked.

Boomer shook his head and said, "I don't know. She said something about checking on Bojay and that's the last I saw of her."

Apollo nodded and wondered what could have happened to the women he loved. He was brought out of his thoughts of Sheba by Starbucks voice.

"Well don't look now, but I think the guests of honor have just arrived."

Down the passageway, thru the darkness and the smoke, one could see the bright red "eyes" of the approaching Cylons. Apollo couldn't tell how many there were, but it seemed that every Cylon ever built was now coming right at him.

"Hold your fire until they get past junction Beta four. If we can take down enough of them there, they won't be able to outflank us." Apollo ordered. "Who has the other corridor Boomer?"

"Nobody, we set off a couple of solinite charges on that side and collapsed the entire section. It'll take them a sectar to get thru there!" Boomer said. "This is the only way to the bridge."

Apollo nodded his head and readied himself for what was about to come.

Near the Life Center, things were going horribly bad for the Colonial defenders. The small force of Warriors and council security that had survived the infiltration by the Cylons were now retreating toward the Life Center. They fought bravely but there were just far too many Centurions.

Inside the Life Center, Doctor Salik was trying to operate on a Warrior that had taken a laser blast in the chest. The doctor worked at a feverish pace, trying to reconnect the man's pulmonary artery which had been shot away. It was at that moment that the fighting spilled over into the Life Center.

Men and machine came pouring into the Life Center, lasers firing, swords swinging, laser rifle butts being used as clubs, it was like a scene from one of the ancient tales of heroes. Only this on was real!

Among those defenders forced into the Life Center was Corporeal Lomas, who had been on the perimeter near where Apollo had been when the turbodyne blew up. He was firing wildly at the never ending flood of Cylon Centurions that had harassed them thru three sections of the Galactica. Now there was no where else to retreat to. Here in the Life Center, this battle would be decided.

Lomas moved to one side of the door while Corporeal Komma took the other side, creating a cross fire that ripped the Cylons to shreds and allowed a number of other defenders to escape to the relative safety of the Life Center.

Security officer Reese was among those that had made it to the Life Center and began ordering the doors barricaded. Doctor Paye, who was attending to some of the less severely wounded was shocked by the sudden appearance of Warriors with weapons blasting away and began to protest, but was cut off in mid sentence by a laser bolt from a Cylon rifle. Reese destroyed the Centurion and slammed the door closing mechanism until it slid shut. He looked around the room at all the wounded Warriors and crewmen and the terrified med techs and began ordering them to move into the central bays, out of the way and out of the line of fire. The med techs moved as many of the injured into the recovery bays as they could, thou many of the less severely injured grabbed their weapons and took up positions to help defend the Life Center. Reese looked around at those that would make the stand with him there, four uninjured Warriors, twelve injured Warriors, three council security officers and five crewmen. Not the most formidable force but it would have to do.

As he looked around, a thought came to him. No, not just a thought, but a premonition. Suddenly Reese knew that this is where he was going to die.

The Cylons began working on the door to the Life Center, attempting to bypass the locks and gain entry. Reese knew it would only be a few centons before the mechanical horrors forced their way in and wiped out his small group. He was determined to make them pay for every life they took with ten of their own. He took up a position behind a desk and waited for the end to come.

At the barricade in Beta section, the fight had begun in earnest. Rank after rank of Centurions marched forward into the concentrated firepower of the Colonial defenses, and one after another, they fell in crumpled heaps of scrape. The number of Cylons destroyed was nearing a hundred when they finally decided to fall back. This brought a hearty cheer from the human defenders as they had a chance to rest and regroup for a few moments.

Apollo looked around to see who was there and who might have been hurt…..or killed in the first push by the Cylons. He saw Boomer and a crewmen, Apollo knew him by the name Web, to his left along with a Sergeant Garay who manned the laser cannon. To his right was Starbuck and two bridge officers, Ensigns Hilts and Cobb as well as Sergeant Ballar on the other laser cannon. Eight people against hundreds, perhaps thousands of Cylons. Not the best of odds, but they would have to do because at that moment the next wave of Cylon Centurions were moving in on them.

The door to the Life Center slide open and laser fire thick enough to walk on made the threshold a death trap for any who ventured into it. The human defenders concentrated their fire in the small area of the door, just two metrons in width, keeping the Cylons from rushing in. But that was not their plan!

Three Centurions suddenly appeared in the doorway, two in the fore and one behind. The first two were hit by over a dozen laser blasts within a micron of their stepping into the "kill zone" of the doorway. They had just enough time to fire off one laser blast each before they fell to the deck, but they had done their job, because they were only there to protect the Centurion behind them so it could toss two flash grenades into the room. The grenades explode, causing the human defenders to be blinded by the extremely bright flash. This was all the advantage the Cylons needed to over power the helpless humans as they made quick work of Reese and his small but valiant group. Now with a foothold into the Life Center established, the Cylons began moving farther into one of the last cells of resistance.

In the operating theater, Doctor Salik had just finished with the delicate surgery when the door to the room slide open and a Cylon Centurion walk in. Salik immediately grabbed his laser scalpel from the tray of instruments next to him and activated it. He pointed it at the red scanning "eye" of the Centurion and pressed the small button on the side of the scalpel that unleashed the intense beam of light from within. The laser from the scalpel penetrated the optical scanner to the delicate "brain" of the Centurion, causing it to convulse and fall to the deck. Salik ducked a laser blast from another Centurion and fired his small laser again, this time at the weak area around the neck of the mechanical monstrosity. Again the laser cut thru the poorly shielded area of the Cylon, causing its head to fall off. The body of the second Cylon hadn't hit the deck before another stepped up behind it and fired into the room. One of the med techs that had assisted with the surgery picked that moment to make a run for it and was hit square in the back. Salik moved to his left a bit and fired his laser scalpel once more. Only this time his aim was a little off, because instead of hitting the weak area around the neck, he hit the chest plate of the Centurion causing the laser beam to be deflected to the side, directly at the other med tech in the room. The beam hit the unfortunate girl in the throat, slicing thru her carotid artery, causing her to bleed to death in a matter of microns.

The Centurion saw where the laser beam came from and began firing in that location. Salik managed to duck the first blast but the follow up shots tore him apart.

In the critical care ward, Cassiopeia was tending to Jolly and Greenbean when all hades broke loose. The laser fire and the screams brought Jolley back to conciseness as Cassie peeked out thru the door.

"What's going on Cassiopeia? What's happening out there?" Jolly asked weakly as he tried to sit up in bed.

"I can't tell, but there's something……oh my god! There are Cylons in the Life Center!" she told him. Then she saw him trying to sit up and moved back next to him. "What do think you're doing Jolly? You're in no condition to fight."

"I'll be damned if I'll die in this bed without a fight!" Jolly said as he tried to get up. "Give me my laser pistol Cassie and get over there behind Greenbean so you're out of the way." He told her. "And take his laser. You may need it!"

She did as he asked, handing him his laser then grabbing Greenbean's for herself before she found a small hiding place out of the way. With that done, all they could do was wait.

They didn't have to wait long!

A few moments after Cassie had settled in, the door to the critical care ward opened and three Centurions entered. They scanned the area, finding what looked like two dead humans lying on strange looking tables. One Centurion approached Greenbean and scanned the medical equipment, then it turned to the other two and in the typical monotone electronic voice of all Centurions said, "This human has ceased to function." It then moved toward the bed where Jolly laid and scanned the medical equipment. It straightened up and said, "This human is still functional."

"You bet I am rust bucket!" Jolly said as he pointed his laser at the Cylon's chest and fired, blowing the Centurion to pieces. He then fired at the other two, taking both out before they could react. Jolly fell back onto the bed, exhausted from the little bit of exertion he had just gone thru. He was barely coherent when three more Centurions entered the room. Finding the three "dead" Centurions on the deck and a single live human in the room, the lead Cylon leveled its laser rifle at Jolly. He was totally helpless, without the strength to even lift his laser again. The Centurion was about to fire when its head suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks and flames.

Cassiopeia had sprung out from her hiding spot just as the Centurion was about to fire and fired her own laser, striking the Cylon in the side of the head. It dropped before it could pull the trigger on its weapon. Cassie swung her weapon around and fired again, hitting the second Cylon square in the chest, causing it to spark and explode as it fell to the deck. She then aimed at the third Centurion and pulled the trigger.

Nothing!

She pulled the trigger again and again, but nothing happened. She looked at the power indicator on the pistol grip and saw that its charge had run out. She looked up at the Centurion as it stood "looking" down at her. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no way to defend herself. In a last act of frustration and defiance, Cassiopeia threw the worthless laser pistol at her executioner, bouncing it off its "face". The Centurion raised its weapon and fired. Cassie had time to utter just one word before her life ended.

"Starbuckkkkkk!"

At the barricade in Beta section, the battle raged on as the Cylons continued to press forward. The hardy band of defenders had fought back with a tenacity that surprised even them as they kept the Cylons at bay. Twice they had forced them back with the massed fire of the two laser cannons and half a dozen hand lasers, but they were getting tired and their laser power was getting low. Soon they would be defenseless.

"Starbuck, how are you fixed for power packs?" Apollo asked.

"I'm down to my last one and so are Cobb and Hilts. Ballar has one more for the big gun." He told Apollo.

"Boomer, what about you?

"I've got one more after this and Web has a couple. Garay has one for the cannon."

Apollo thought about this for a centon. He knew they could only hold the Cylons back for maybe one more push, and then their lasers would be out of power. Not a very pleasant thought.

"Do you have any more of those solinite charges with you?" Apollo asked hopefully.

"Sorry Apollo, we used them all to seal off the other passageway." Boomer said.

Apollo nodded and then made his decision.

"Cobb, I want you to take Hilts and Web and see if you can get thru to one of the weapons lockers in Alpha section. Get as many power packs as you can carry and get back here."

Cobb nodded and motioned for Hilts and Web to follow. Apollo knew it was a long shot, but they had to try and get more power packs for their weapons or they'd be finished. Web tossed his extra packs to Apollo, saying, "I won't need these." Apollo thanked him and then tossed one over to Starbuck. Now there were only five people to defend the barricade. Apollo wondered what else could go wrong!

He was about to find out.

Thru the smoke, Apollo saw the unmistakable red glow of Cylon optical scanners moving back and forth in their never ending sweeping motion. He pulled out both of his lasers and checked their charges. One was about two thirds charged while the other was about half. With only one spare power pack, he knew he only had about ten centons of fire power left. He hoped that would be enough for his father and Colonel Tigh to finish their work and end this war once and for all!

"Wait till they hit the junction people, then hit with everything you got." Apollo told them.

"That won't be much, my lasers are almost drained!" Starbuck said.

"So are mine." Boomer added.

It was at that moment that the Cylons opened up on the human defenders, but not just with laser rifles, but with grenade launchers as well. The first hit the middle of the barricade, blowing a hole in the hastily constructed fortifications. The second hit the laser cannon manned by Sergeant Garay, sending both the laser cannon and the man flying backwards. Boomer ran over to where Garay laid and instantly knew he was dead. He then grabbed the laser cannon and wrestled it back into position, firing it with great effect.

Starbuck saw the Centurions with the grenades launchers and took aim at one of them. He hit one just after it had fire its grenade, but the next one was still taking aim when Starbuck hit it with two laser bolts in the chest, knocking it back into the others. The damaged Cylon fired its grenade into the overhead where it exploded, bringing down hundreds of kilons of wreckage down on top of the advancing Cylons and momentarily stopping their advance. Apollo took advantage of this and began rebuilding the barricade where it had been knocked down. They had only a few centons before the Cylons had cleared the debris and were once again on the attack.

Athena searched Alpha section for as many people as she could to help fight off the Cylons. Most of the ships personnel had already been evacuated so there were very few people left. She did find a couple of electronics techs in a machinery room where the speaker system didn't work and three med techs in the forward battle dressing station that were still caring for several severely wounded Warriors, but that was all. She told one of the med techs to stay and care for the wounded while the other two went with her and the electronics techs to begin building a barricade just outside of the bridge.

It was at that time that Cobb and his group came running down the passageway. Athena drew her laser pistol at the sound of footsteps heading their way, but was relieved to see they were from humans and not Cylons.

"Am I glad to see you guys!" she said as she lowered her weapon. "I thought the Cylons were coming."

"They are! Their attacking the barricade at the far end of Beta section right now." Cobb said.

"So where are you people going? Who's manning the barricade?" Athena asked.

"Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck, Boomer, and a couple of Warriors I don't know." Cobb told her. "Apollo told us to go to Alpha section and bring back some power packs. All of ours were running low."

Athena grabbed a small bag that was sitting near by and tossed it to Cobb.

"You can't get to the weapons lockers in Alpha section, the way is blocked." She told him. "Here, those are all the power packs that were left from the bridge weapons locker. Get them back to Apollo and let him know we're setting up a barricade here in case they need to fall back. You two stay here and help us." She added, indicating Hilts and Web.

Cobb nodded and took off down the passageway with the power packs. Athena watched him go, wishing she was going with him. She wanted to go and help her brother…….and Starbuck, but her father had given her a job to do and she was not about to fail him. So she turned back to building the barricade.

The fighting at the barricade in Beta section had been fierce as the Cylons continued to throw caution to the wind and go straight at the hopelessly outnumbered humans. The Cylons marched head long into the Colonial defenses, not worrying about casualties, hoping to simply defeat the humans by shear weight of numbers. This strategy had one major flaw however, in the confined space of the corridor, they could not bring the full force of their numbers to bear on the enemy, and thus they were being wiped out by the hundreds without inflicting much damage on the humans at all. They need a new plan.

A gold command Centurion walked down the passageway to the front of the Cylon forces and asked why the Galactica's bridge had not been taken. When the Centurion in charge told him of the barricaded humans blocking they way, the gold Centurion pulled out its laser and blasted the subordinate in the chest. Then the gold Centurion called for a squad of Centurions with grenade launchers to move to the front.

"You will move forward and destroy the barricade." The gold Centurion droned. "You will continue to fire until you have succeeded or have been destroyed. Failure is not an option."

"By your command." Droned a dozen silver Centurions with grenade launchers, then they moved off toward the barricade. The gold Centurion then ordered the rest of the Centurions to follow behind and to break thru the barricade. They marched off to do as they were told. Mindless automatons ready to bring death and destruction to any who would stand before them. The final push was about to begin.

Apollo, Boomer, Starbuck and Ballar had rebuilt the barricade and reset the laser cannon that had been manned by Sergeant Garay before he had been killed in the last attack. The power packs for the laser cannons were almost depleted, perhaps having a dozen or so shots left each. There was one spare power pack, but it had been damaged and was useless now. Once those weapons went dead, they would have to rely on hand lasers to hold off the Cylons and those were nearly drained as well. Their only hope was for Cobb and his group to bring back enough power packs from the weapons lockers in Alpha section to keep them going.

But where was Cobb?

Just then Cobb came running down the passageway carrying a bag.

"Captain, I've got more power packs!" he yelled as he approached, then he disappeared as a Cylon grenade hit him in the chest and exploded, leaving only bits and pieces of the young officer all over the corridor.

The bag with the power packs flew thru the air, landing close to Apollo's feet. He grabbed the bag and pulled out several of the power packs, tossing them over to Boomer then doing the same to Starbuck. He cast a quick glance to where Cobb had been and hoped his sacrifice had not been in vain. Then he got back to the business at hand.

Unfortunately, the Cylons were going for an all or nothing charge this time. The squad of grenade launching Centurions launched round after round at the barricaded humans, causing their protective wall to disintegrate around them. Apollo knew they could not hold their position any longer and yelled for them to fall back. Boomer, who was manning the laser cannon, tore a small piece of cloth from his uniform and used it to tie the trigger down on the laser cannon so it would continue to fire on its own, then he jumped up, grabbed his power packs and ran down the passageway.

Starbuck did likewise, heading toward the bridge, stopping long enough to provide cover fire for Apollo and Ballar.

Apollo told the young gunner to secure his weapon and get moving but the young man ignored the order.

"Ballar, lets go! We can't stay here!" He yelled.

Ballar never stopped firing but turned to Apollo with a pained look on his face.

"I can't move sir!" He said. "My leg is gone!"

Apollo took a closer look at the young Warrior and saw that his left leg had been blown off at mid thigh. The heat from the blast had cauterized the wound or he would have already bled to death. As it was, there was no way he could make it to the bridge in his condition.

"Go on Captain, I'll hold the line here! I'll give you as much time as I can!" Ballar yelled, still firing away.

Apollo put his hand on Ballar's shoulder.

"Thanks Ballar."

Ballar nodded and said, "Get out of here Captain before one of those tin cans gets lucky and hits one of us!"

Apollo patted him on the shoulder, then took off down the corridor, catching up with Starbuck.

"Where's Ballar?" he asked.

Apollo cast a glance back at where Ballar was still blasting away and said, "He's staying behind and covering our backs."

Starbuck gave him a quizzical look, not understanding.

"He's injured and couldn't make it Starbuck! He wanted to stay and fight on his own terms." Apollo said. "Come on, let's go." Apollo said as he pulled Starbuck along. The two Warriors ran down the corridor, the sound of the battle still raging.

A few centons later, Apollo and Starbuck reach the barricade Athena and her crew had constructed just outside the entrance to the bridge. Apollo and Starbuck slipped thru the small gap that they had left for them to get thru and found Athena and Boomer lifting a large table into place. Athena ran to her brother and hugged him then told him what their father was planning. Apollo told Starbuck to take over there while he went to the bridge. Then he walked down the passageway to the bridge.

On the bridge, Adama, Tigh and Omega were still trying to rig the Galactica's self-destruct to operate manually when Apollo walked in. He saw Boxey lying in Athena's chair and went over to him. He ran his hand thru the boy's hair several times then looked around for his father.

"Why are Athena and Boxey still here?" he asked as he walked over to where his father was soldering wires together. Adama looked up from his work for a moment then returned his attention to the job at hand.

"There was no time to get them off the ship before the Cylons closed in on us." He said with barely a trace of emotion.

"What do mean "no time"? They should have been amongst the first people off the ship." Apollo said, his anger unmistakable.

"I wish they had been Apollo, but we couldn't find Boxey and Athena wouldn't leave. If I could have gotten them off I would have! I would have liked to have all of you off the ship before now, but there just wasn't enough time!" Adama said as he continued to work. "The only thing I can do now is try and save those of our people that did get away and pray that the Cylons don't find them. That's why we have to do this! To protect the fleet! To try and insure the continuation of our species!"

Adama was almost pleading for his sons understanding. He didn't want things to happen as they had, but that was something he could not control. All he could do now was try and protect those people that had got away, even if it meant that he had to sacrifice his entire family to do so!

Apollo step closer to his father and said in a gentle voice, "How long before you're ready Commander!"

Adama looked up from his work and saw the sadness in his son's eyes.

"Give me just five more centons Apollo! Five more centons and we'll be able to stop the Cylons for good!"

"You'll have you're five centons." Apollo said, then he turned to walk off the bridge, stopping to kiss his son on the head before going to face his destiny.

At the new barricade, Starbuck and Boomer had done all they could to build a wall that would slow down the Cylons. It was nearly five metrons thick and went from one side of the corridor to the other and all the way to the overhead, it would be the last barrier keeping the Cylons from the bridge. But would it be enough?

Apollo returned to find the last few defenders peering thru the barricade, looking for the Cylons. He stepped up next to Boomer and Starbuck and peeked over their shoulders.

"Any sign of them yet?"

"Not yet, but the laser cannon firing stopped about two centons ago so it's a good bet they've taken Ballar." Boomer said. He looked at Apollo and said, "Starbuck told me. That was one gutsy Warrior."

"Yeah, he sure was!" Apollo said sadly, remembering the badly wounded man, sitting there firing away with one of his legs blown off. He thought that he may never have known a Warrior with so much courage as Ballar showed.

His revere was broken by the sound foot falls moving down the corridor toward them. He pulled his laser out of its holster and readied himself for what was about to transpire. Glancing to his right, he saw Starbuck, Boomer, Athena, Rigel, Hilts, Web and several others whose names he didn't know, all readying themselves as well. This would be their last battle, and he was sure it would be one for the ages!

As soon as the first Cylons came within sight, one of the med techs/turned Warrior began firing. He had not meant to, but the terror of seeing a real "living" Cylon Centurion for the first time made the fear inside him rise up and he tightened his grip on the laser pistol Athena had given him. At least he had remembered to take the safety off!

The blast missed hitting the Cylons by a good metron and gave away the mans position behind the barricade. The Centurion raised the grenade launcher it carried and sent a grenade right where the tech was hiding. The barricade exploded in the spot where the man stood, killing him instantly and wounding the man next to him. Boomer and Starbuck both fired at the Centurion with the grenade launcher and destroyed it. But it was followed by two more Centurions with grenade launchers, and they employed them with devastating results.

The first two shots launched by the Cylons hit on either side of the first one, widening the gap and injuring two more people. The next volley hit just to the right of the gap, knocking part of the barricade down on top of one of the defenders, crushing him. Web and Hilts jumped into the gap and began throwing whatever they could into the hole the grenades had opened up while the others gave them cover fire. Boomer and Athena took out the two Centurions with the grenade launchers, but they were followed up by a full phalanx of Centurions firing laser rifles. It looked as if the Cylons were making their final push.

Adama had just finished making the last connection when he heard the explosions just outside the bridge. He knew his time was running out fast and prayed that they would finish before the Cylons made it to the bridge.

Tigh and Omega were underneath the command podium rerouting the connections to the self-destruct detonators when they heard the explosions. They exchanged a look, both knowing that their time was running out. They returned to their work.

Apollo and the rest of the defenders at the barricade were desperately trying to hold their position, but the Cylons were simply not going to be denied this time as they charged ahead, heedless of the concentrated fire of the Colonial Warriors. Even thou they were falling by the score, the Cylons continued forward until they had reached the barricade, where they began tearing it apart by hand.

Apollo was firing at the Cylons at point blank range now, at times his laser pistol was less then a metron away from the target. He took aim at yet another Cylon when out of nowhere, a hand came thru the barricade and grabbed him by the wrist.

A Cylon hand!

He yelled in pain as the mechanical hand began to tighten on his wrist, causing the bones to snap. Apollo tried to pull away, but the iron grip of the Cylon was unbreakable. Starbuck saw his friend's predicament and quickly fired off three shots at the Cylons arm, blowing it free of the Cylon. Apollo pried it loose, allowing it to fall to the deck.

"You almost hit me!" Apollo said incredulously.

"Would you rather I'd let that thing pull your arm off?" Starbuck shot back as he continued to fire at the Cylons.

"We should pull back!" Hilts yelled as he fired at a Cylon that was less then a metron away.

"There's no place to fall back to!" Apollo shouted. "We have to hold them here!"

Another grenade bounced off the overhead and landed near Apollo and Starbuck. Neither of them could get away from the grenade and would have certainly perished if not for the quick and selfless action of Ensign Hilts, who threw his body on top of the grenade a split micron before it detonated. The force of the blast blew Hilts off the deck half a metron, his body taking the brunt of the explosion. Apollo and Starbuck both moved down to see if there was anything they could do, but it was too late.

Apollo looked back at the barricade. Web was trying to hold back a group of Cylons that had forced their way thru the wall. He and Starbuck seen this at the same time and began lending their support, firing at the intruders. They were able to drive them back, but not before Web had taken a laser blast to the head, killing him instantly.

Athena, Boomer and Rigel were still holding their own on the barricade but it was only a matter of microns before they were overwhelmed. Apollo made a quick decision to fall back to the bridge. He only hoped that his father was ready!

"How's much longer Tigh?"Adama asked expectantly. "From the sound of things, I don't think we have more then a centon!"

Tigh crawled out from under the command podium, covered with grease and dust.

"We're finished Commander! Omega is making the last connection now." Tigh told him. "Once that's done, you can activate the self-destruct from your station."

"Good work Tigh, from what I can hear from the corridor, we are out of time!"

At that moment, the blast doors to the bridge slide open. Apollo, Athena, Boomer, Rigel and Starbuck ran onto the bridge, firing round after round back down the corridor while dodging laser bolts coming from the passageway. Rigel jumped to the side of the door and as soon as Apollo and Boomer were thru the door, she hit the control to close it. The door was half way shut when a pair of grenades landed in the doorway and exploded. The blast from the grenades couldn't damage the huge blast door, but the shrapnel from them did hit the control panel, destroying the controls and causing the door to stop, leaving about a two metron gap. The blast also caught Rigel, who was moving away from the door seeking some sort of cover. She took several pieces of metal in the back and legs, sending her to the deck unconscious.

The rest of the Galactica Warriors were able to find cover behind the consoles on the bridge and began laying down a murderous crossfire on the small gap in the entry. Adama made his way over to where Apollo had taken refuge.

"I'm sorry father, but we couldn't hold them back any longer!" Apollo told his father.

"I think you held them long enough! Omega is making the last connection. Once he's done, I'll set off the self-destruct from the main console on the podium." Adama told him.

"How does it work?" Apollo asked, adding "Just in case you can't get to the switch and one of us has to do it!"

"All you have to do is flip the Alpha one switch on the main grid panel and ten microns later…….boom! The Cylons are history."

At that moment several canisters came flying thru the door. As soon as they hit the deck, they began emitting a hissing sound along with a cloud of smoke. At first they appeared to be nothing more then smoke grenades, meant to cover the movements of the Cylons outside the blast door, but as the smoke spread, Adama realized the Cylons were using gas!

"Cover your faces, quickly! Those are gas canisters." Adama yelled as he made a run for the steps to the command podium. Apollo and Starbuck raised up and started to give him cover fire, but were overcome by the gas and fell to the deck. Athena was still trying to cover her face with a piece of cloth when the gas sent her unconscious to the deck. Boomer managed to tie a piece of cloth around his nose and mouth, but it did him no good. The gas the Cylons were using worked thru osmosis, needing only to contact the skin to work.

Adama struggled up the steps to the command podium, crawling on his hands and knees to the main console. The gas was making it difficult for him to think, his eyes were watery and his eyelids weighed a thousand kilons. Adama struggled to pull himself up to where he could see the console. His vision blurred and the room seemed to tilt as he fought to maintain focus for just a few more microns.

With great effort, Adama managed to pull himself up high enough to where he could see the console. He tried to focus on the panels, searching for the one he needed, but he was so tired! What switch was it he had to flip? He couldn't remember! Alpha one, that was it, Alpha one. He tried to clear his head, all he needed was a couple of microns of clear thought and he would end this war forever! He would destroy the hated Cylons and allow his people to make good their escape.

All he had to do was flip the switch!

Adama reach across the console toward the top row of switches. They seemed so far away! To him, his arm seemed to stretch of into the distance, much like a laser bolt sailing off into space, it looked as if it just went on forever.

Adama continued to reach for the switches, but they seemed to be moving farther and farther away, then all he could see was the lights in the overhead. He must have fallen over. He struggled to sit upright again but he couldn't will himself to move.

He heard a sound.

A repetitive, whirring sound.

He knew that sound, but where he had heard it he couldn't remember.

It was getting louder. Moving closer.

Adama's head turned to one side as he tried to see where the sound was coming from, but he still could see nothing. His brain was beginning to shut down on him. He caught the glint of light reflecting off of something nearby. It was moving closer to him, a large, bright, shinny object.

The whirring sound was much louder now.

What was it?

The object stopped right next to him.

A bright red light, moving back and forth.

The sound was coming from the object!

What was it?

A Cylon!

That's what it was.

A Cylon, standing right over him.

He had to move. He had to find a weapon and destroy it before it could destroy him.

But nothing worked!

Not his arms. Not his legs. Not even his mouth!

He was helpless.

As the blackness of unconsciousness closed in on him, Adama heard the electronic voice of the Cylon.

"By your command! The Galactica has been secured. We have taken Commander Adama alive!"

Adama heard nothing more after that, having finally succumbed to the effects of the gas.


	12. Nightmare? Final Chapter

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Nightmare?**

**Final Chapter**

**Sight and sound eluded him as he climbed out of the dark oblivion caused by the Cylon gas. Awareness was the first thing that returned, awareness that he was alive anyway, followed shortly there after by pain. Hot, searing pain that seemed to radiate from every fiber of his being. He would have cried out had he been able to, but alas, he could do no such thing. All he could do was endure. **

**Some time later, he knew not how much time had past having no concept of time at that moment, he began to hear sounds. His mind was still far too foggy to make out what the sounds could be or where they were coming from, all he could be sure of was that they were there!**

**Then a new sensation hit him. He started to see some light in his dark world. **

**His eyes had come open. **

**He couldn't distinguish objects at first, only see a lesser shade of black, but as the light grew, so did his ability to understand what it was happening. **

**Conciseness was returning. **

**The sounds he was hearing were people moving. Moving and talking. But who were they and why couldn't he see them? Why couldn't he move? Or speak? What had happened to him? **

**All these things were going thru Commander Adama's mind as he lay on the deck of the Galactica's bridge while Cylon Centurions walked freely about his ship. But he was still unaware of all this. He had not recovered sufficiently from the gas the Cylons used when they invaded the bridge. He had only just figured out that he was still alive.**

**Adama heard another voice. It was much clearer then those he heard before, but he didn't know who it belonged to. It sounded familiar, but he was unable to place it. It had a very deep tone to it and was quite tinny, as if it was mechanical! It was at that moment that the fog in his mind cleared and realization struck like a lightning bolt out of the blue.**

**The voices he was hearing were those of Cylon Centurions!**

**Suddenly it all came rushing back to him. The space battle. The attempt to escape the Cylons. The turbodyne explosion. The battle on the bridge. The self-destruct system. All of it came flooding back into his mind. **

**The Cylons had taken over the Galactica! **

**He had to stop them, but how? **

**The self-destruct system, that was how.**

**He had to get to the self-destruct switch on the main console.**

**But how could he do that? He couldn't even move.**

**Then he heard another voice. A different voice then those he heard before. A very familiar voice.**

"**Hello Adama, my old friend."**

**Adama forced his eyes to focus on the figure that had just kneeled down next to him. With an effort of pure will, he turned his head so he could see, face to face, the person behind that voice.**

**Baltar!**

**Adama tried with every last bit of strength he could muster to reach out and grab hold of the traitor's neck, but could only manage a slight "grunting" sound. This made the most hated man in all history laugh with delight and made Adama feel even more helpless. **

"**Now, now Adama, don't over exert yourself. The effects of the serizine gas won't wear off for several more centons. Until it does, you'll be as helpless as a new born babe!" Baltar chided as he smiled down on Adama. "But don't you worry old friend, my Cylon friends won't harm you. No, I have other plans for you and the others."**

**Adama laid still for a moment trying to gather a bit of strength, then he tried to speak.**

"**WWWhaatt ootherss?" he managed to get out.**

"**Why your family of course!" Baltar said, his smile broadening. "Apollo, Athena, the child, Starbuck, Boomer, and of course Colonel Tigh, all those you hold dear are here Adama."**

**Baltar's smile faded for a moment as he went on.**

"**I am somewhat disappointed not to find the lovely Sheba here among you thou, or that council security officer Reese, but I guess they were unavoidably eliminated while we took over the Galactica. Such a pity!" he said whimsically. Then Baltar stood up and spoke to an unseen Centurion.**

"**Centurions, be good fellows and help the Commander up." He said gleefully. "Put him over there with the rest of his family."**

**Two Centurions walked over to where Adama lay and picked him up by the arms, then they dragged him down the steps of the command podium to where the rest of the prisoners were being held. They dropped him roughly next to Apollo, who was himself just beginning to wake from the gas. **

"**Hey! Take it easy tin can!" Starbuck said groggily from his spot on the floor next to where Apollo and Adama were.**

"**Silence!" the Centurion said as it walked away.**

"**Frak you!" Starbuck said. **

"**Shame on you Lieutenant!" Baltar admonished. "Such language in front of a child!"**

**Baltar walked up next to where Starbuck sat, followed by a Centurion that was carrying Boxey. The Centurion dropped the boy on the deck next to Apollo. Starbuck gathered what little strength he had and kicked the Centurion behind its knee joints, sending it crashing to the deck.**

"**I said take it easy!" **

**Another Centurion that had been standing guard over the prisoners pulled out its laser pistol and leveled it at Starbuck's head.**

"**Stop! Hold your fire Centurion," Baltar ordered. "and help him up." He told the Centurion, indicating its fallen comrade.**

**The Centurion holstered its weapon and helped pull the fallen Centurion back on its feet.**

**Baltar watched the two Cylons for a moment then turned to Starbuck.**

"**It's so hard to find decent help these days." He jested. Then in a more serious tone he said, "You don't want to do that again Lieutenant, the next time I might not be here to stop them from……..well, you know!" he said with a slight laugh.**

"**Like you're not going to kill us anyway, right!" Starbuck challenged.**

"**On the contrary, I plan on keeping you all very much alive!" Baltar said to the entire group. "I have plans for you."**

"**What plans?" Adama asked, now that he was more fully aware.**

**Baltar looked down at his old adversary with a smile. He looked at the other members of the Galactica crew, Colonel Tigh, Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, Athena, and Rigel He allowed his gaze to linger on Rigel for a moment then turned to a nearby Centurion.**

"**Take this one and dispose of her." He said.**

"**No, you can't just……." Starbuck protested as he tried to raise himself up off the deck, but was forcefully restrained by a pair of Cylons.**

**Baltar watched with an amused look on his face.**

"**I warned you Starbuck not to do anything foolish." He told the brash Warrior. Then he waved to the Centurion to carry out his orders. The Galactica Warriors watched as the Cylon grabbed Rigel by the back of her jacket, which caused her to moan loudly in pain, and started dragging her off the bridge. The Cylon had only taken a few steps when it was struck by a laser bolt. Sparks flew from the Centurion as it fell to the deck, dropping the badly wounded Rigel.**

**Several Centurions ran over to the command podium, searching for the assailant. They could not find where the shot came from that destroyed their hapless comrade. Then several more blasts struck from under the podium, striking three of the Centurions down in quick succession. The Cylons finally found the antagonist and returned fire, blowing away a number of components under the podium. A loud scream of pain came from under the podium and what sounded like a body hitting the deck was heard. One of the Centurions moved forward and pulled open an access panel. There inside, Omega lay bleeding from a laser wound to the leg and one to the midsection. He looked up at the Cylon and spit in its face just before death took him. **

"**I thought you said this area was secure!" Baltar yelled as he stepped out from behind one of the consoles.**

"**Still as courageous as ever I see!" Adama laughed.**

**Baltar turned to face Adama, his smile having disappeared.**

"**We'll see how courageous you are when……" **

**He was interrupted by a Centurion entering the bridge.**

"**By your command!"**

"**What is it?" Baltar yelled at the Centurion.**

"**We have found the female Warrior you wanted." The Cylon droned, not at all taken aback by the tone of Baltar's voice. The smile returned to his face as he looked from Adama to Apollo.**

"**Excellent, well done. Bring her in." he told the Centurion.**

**It turned back to the doorway and spoke to some as yet unseen ally's, then it walk toward the center of the room toward Baltar. A pair of Cylons came thru the door behind the first one dragging a Warrior face between them. All one could tell about the Warrior was that it was female and had long brown hair that was matted with blood. **

"**Put her over there!" Baltar ordered, indicating a place between Apollo and Starbuck.**

**They dragged her to the place indicated and dropped her, face down on the deck. The two Centurions stepped aside as Baltar walked over and stared down at the female Warrior.**

"**Is she alive?" he asked.**

**The lead Centurion looked at Baltar and said, "She is still functional."**

**Baltar took the toe of his boot and placed it under the right shoulder of the unconscious woman. Using his foot, Baltar turned her face up. The Galactica crew gasped in shock when they saw the poor Warriors bloody face.**

**It was Sheba!**

"**What did you do to her you son of a dagget?" Apollo yelled as he came up off the deck. **

**One of the Cylon guards grabbed Apollo by the back of his jacket and slammed him back onto the deck, jarring him. Apollo slipped out of his jacket and crawled over to Sheba, wiping the hair and blood away from her face. She had a large ugly gash on her forehead and a huge bump on the side of her head. Apollo took her hand and noticed that here knuckles and fingers were bruised and swollen, a sure sign that she had fought back with her bare hands against the Cylons. Apollo looked up at Baltar with tears in his eyes. He wanted to tear Baltar to pieces with his bare hands. He started to rise to his feet. The Cylon guards all brought their weapons up, aiming them at Apollo.**

"**I would advise you not to try anything my young friend, it could be hazardous to your health!" Baltar threatened as he pulled out his own laser pistol. "And to your precious Sheba's too!" he add as he pointed his laser at the unconscious woman.**

**Apollo stopped, but the fury inside him boiled. It would be worth his life if he could take Baltar with him into death.**

**Baltar laughed as Apollo was pulled back by his father.**

**It was then that Starbuck made his move!**

**Taking advantage of the distraction before him and using the speed and reflex's gained by many yahren of flying Vipers, Starbuck leapt up from the floor, grabbed the sword from the Centurion that was standing just to his right, and in the same motion, brought the gleaming steel blade down on Baltar's right arm, shearing it and his laser away in a single stroke.**

**Starbuck started to bring the sword around for another stroke but froze in mid swing.**

**Adama and Apollo both stood wide-eyed, staring at Baltar's arm.**

**Boomer and Athena gasped at the site before them.**

**All of them were shocked beyond reason as they stared at what should have been flesh and bone, but instead found metal, hydraulics, and wires! Baltar's arm was mechanical!**

**Baltar screamed as he watched his arm fall to the deck, still gripping his laser. But it was not a scream of pain, but of frustration and anger! He looked down at his ruined arm with its wires and hydraulics laid bare and he was suddenly consumed with a fury like none he had ever known before.**

"**LOOK AT WHAT YOU"VE DONE YOU STUPID FOOL!" Baltar yelled in a voice dripping with venom, waving his arm at Starbuck. **

**Starbuck pulled his eyes away from Baltar's arm and looked him in the eye, asking, "What in Hades are you?"**

**Baltar turned his face to Starbuck, and the look he gave Starbuck froze the very blood in his veins. Then in a voice straight out of hell, Baltar hissed his reply.**

"**What am I you asked, let me tell you what I am………I AM DEATH!"**

**Saying that, Baltar swung his ruined arm at the blond Warrior, striking him under the chin, breaking his jaw and sending him flying across the room to land in a crumpled pile against the bulkhead. Then Baltar turned to Adama, who like the others was still too shocked by what they just saw to utter a word.**

**Baltar raised his mechanical arm up in front of himself where they all could see and in a voice laced with elements of anger, pain, despair……..and insanity, he began to tell them the how and why.**

"**Have you ever heard of Bromion Radiation?"**

**Adama shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the stub of Baltar's arm. **

"**No, well it's not a widely known type of radiation. You see, it's only produced by the gravimetric drive systems of Cylon Baseships. Cylon circuitry is unaffected by this radiation, therefore they never saw the need to insulate their ships against it. However, for humans, it's a particularly nasty type of radiation. It attacks the marrow of the bones, destroying it. But that's not the only effect it has on humans, oh no, it also eats away at the calcium in the bones themselves, causing them to "gelatinize" inside a person. It's an excruciating thing, I assure you!"**

**Baltar gaze sweep across the faces of the captives, enjoying the fear he saw there as he continued.**

"**Of course this is a lengthy process, taking sectars and sectars to happen. At first you hardly notice it, then you begin to feel sick to your stomach and your joints hurt. After awhile you develop lesions on your skin and your hair and teeth begin to fall out. Then in the final stages, when your bones can no longer support your weight, they begin to snap and there is no longer enough marrow in your bones to produce the blood cells your body needs and you wither away, helpless to stop the pain. It's a very slow and agonizing way to die!" **

"**Is that what happened to you?" Adama asked, a look of utter disgust on his face. "Is that what made you into this…..this…...abomination of humanity!"**

"**Abomination am I?" Baltar hissed at Adama. "Be very careful what you say about the way I look Adama, it very well could come back to haunt you!" he laughed.**

"**What do you mean by that?" Adama asked warily.**

**Baltar smiled wickedly at Adama, but before he could answer, he was interrupted by a Centurion.**

"**By your command!"**

"**Yes, yes, what is it!" he said irritably.**

"**We have just received a report from Specter."**

**Baltar smiled brightly at this news and turned back to Adama.**

"**This is something I know you'll be very interested in hearing Adama."**

**Then he ordered a pair of Centurions to bring Adama to the command podium. Baltar climbed the steps to the command podium with Adama being half pulled and half carried along. Once on the podium, Baltar made a show of seating himself in Adama's command seat, then offering the bridge officer's seat to Adama. The two Cylon guards pushed Adama into the seat when he refused to sit on his own.**

"**I thought you would like to hear this report." Baltar said as he nodded to a Cylon technician. The tech flipped a couple of switches on the panel and soon the "face" of an IL class Cylon appeared on the screen. Adama had never seen one of this type before, with its clear shell of a head and the bright lights running there in. The Cylon bowed slightly then it began to speak.**

"**Greetings Baltar, I have good news!" **

"**Speak my friend, tell us of this good news." Baltar gushed.**

"**We have located the human fleet!"**

**Adama's eye went wide with horror as he leaned forward in his seat. Baltar smiled wickedly as he glanced at his old adversary. **

"**With your permission, I would like to begin the attack on the humans." The Cylon Baltar called Specter said.**

**Baltar continued to watch Adama as he answered his subordinate.**

"**You may begin the attack as we planned Specter. Leave not a single ship, do you understand?" **

"**By your command!" the IL series Cylon said with a bow, then the screen when dark.**

**Adama swung around in his chair to face Baltar, the anger in his expression unmistakable.**

"**You have the Galactica! Why don't you leave them be? Their no threat to you and your Cylon masters now!"**

**Baltar shook his head and laughed softly.**

"**Adama, Adama, Adama, you've missed the whole point of the war! It doesn't matter if their a threat or not, the fact that they exist is the problem." Baltar told him. "So long as a single solitary human remains, this war will continue. Only the complete annihilation of the species will suffice."**

"**Does that include you?" Adama asked smugly. "Certainly the Cylons will eliminate you as well after you've gotten rid of us."**

**Baltar leaned back in his seat and smiled broadly at Adama, which made him very uneasy.**

"**No my old friend, that won't be a problem." Baltar said.**

"**What does that mean?" he asked.**

"**It means that once your fleet is done away with, there will be no more humans left to interfere with our conquest of the galaxy." Baltar said. "And we have you to thank for it!"**

"**ME! What did I do to help you with this genocide?" Adama asked incredulously.**

"**By traipsing thru the galaxy as you have these past few yahren, you've led us to a number of small outposts and settlements that we might otherwise have overlooked, such as Sectar, Attila, Luna seven, Terra, and of course Earth." Baltar told him. "We've been following along your trail thru the stars and "cleaning up" these pockets of human infestation, and we've been able to extrapolate what course it is you believe Earth lays along. So I've sent a task force ahead along that course to locate and eliminate the inhabitants of that planet as well."**

"**Lords of Kobol, this can't be happening!" Adama said as he fell back in his seat. What had he done? He not only had led the last survivors from the colonies to their end, but by searching for Earth, he had inadvertently led the Cylons to all the worlds that they had stopped at with human populations and gave them a straight line shot at Earth. Baltar was right, he had been responsible for the end of mankind! Adama put his hands over his face.**

"**Oh, but that's not all my friend, I have another surprise for you!" Baltar said gleefully. "You and your whole family!"**

**Adama raised his eyes to meet Baltar's, the tears beginning to flow from his eyes. What other torture would he bring down upon him?**

"**Earlier you called me "an abomination of humanity" I believe it was. Well you don't know the half of it Adama." Baltar began. "You see, When I told you about Bromion Radiation, I was speaking not just from observing the effects on human prisoners, oh no, I was speaking from personal experience as well."**

**Adama looked at him quizzically, not understanding.**

"**You see Adama, Bromion Radiation has an accumulative effect on humans, once you've been exposed, it's with you forever! The longer you're exposed, the worse the symptoms become! If I had never gone back to my Baseship after I was found on that miserable little planet you saw fit to strand me on, I might have lived a "normal" life. But I was found by my Cylon allies, and I did return to my Baseship, and I was exposed to a nearly fatal dose of Bromion Radiation. I would have died had I not been given an extraordinary opportunity, an opportunity made possible by Doctor Ravashol." **

"**Ravashol, how does he figure into all of this?" Adama said, too confused to try and think.**

"**Ravashol was the scientist we found on the planet Arcta. You might remember it, that's where you destroyed perhaps the most powerful weapons system ever conceived by man, the Ravashol Pulsar!"**

"**I remember it." Adama said.**

"**Well, after we found out he had helped you destroy the pulsar, we had to punish him, so……we exterminated all of his clones, what he called "Theta Class Life Forms." Then we brought him aboard my Baseship so he could rebuild the pulsar cannon. Unfortunately, he became ill, Bromion Radiation poisoning you know, and with his failing health, he was unable to work on the pulsar. Then I had a brilliant idea. I had him start building a mechanical body that we could place his brain into. He took to the idea right away and within a few sectars, he had it ready to receive and support a human brain. And so we removed his brain from his withered and useless body and placed it into the new mechanical one."**

"**Adama leaned forward in his seat, not believing what he had just heard. **

"**Are you telling me Doctor Ravashol built himself a mechanical body and had his brain put into it?"**

"**That's right Adama. You see, Bromion Radiation doesn't effect the soft tissues of the body, it destroys the bones and bone marrow. The brain is fully functional, so you can feel every bit of the radiations destruction. As I said before, it's a very painful way to die."**

**Baltar leaned forward in his seat so he was only a few metrons away from Adama.**

"**When Ravashol finished with his own body, I had him build a second one…….for me!"**

**Baltar watched as realization suddenly hit Adama. He grinned at the Commander.**

"**That's right Adama, that's why I won't be done away with once we finish off your pathetic fleet, because I am no longer human!"**

**Adama could hardly believe what he had just heard. It all had to be a bad dream! He felt dizzy from all that had happened, his face going pale.**

"**Oh that's not all my friend. As I told you earlier, I have a surprise for you and your entire family!" Baltar said as he rose from his chair and made a sweeping motion with his good arm, indicating the other prisoners. "You see Adama, I've had Doctor Ravashol build several more mechanical bodies, nine of them to be exact. One for each member of your family, thou I guess I won't need one for security officer Reese since it appears he didn't survive the fighting. Too bad about that, I had some very special plans for him after the way he treated me on the prison barge." **

"**We'll never submit to you're unholy procedure Baltar." Adama hissed in defiance. "We will fight you to the very end!"**

"**That might be so Adama, but you see, while you and your family members were "sleeping", we injected you all with a time released dose of Trimethalane, a very useful little drug, it has the ability to impede the electrical impulses that allow the brain to control the voluntary muscles of the body, making it impossible for a person to move without impeding their normal body functions, so they are totally alert and fully aware of what is happening around them." **

**Adama tried to stand up, but suddenly he didn't have the strength to rise from his chair.**

"**You see, it's starting to work already!" Baltar said, his smile broadening. "Another wonderful attribute of Trimethalane is that it doesn't disrupt the senses, so you will be able to see, hear, and feel everything that is going to happen to you!"**

**Adama looked up at Baltar and asked what he meant by that, his words starting to slur as he lost more and more of his ability to control his body. Baltar was oh too eager to answer him.**

"**I told you that Doctor Ravashol had built mechanical bodies for each of you, but that was not totally accurate I'm afraid, you see, their not really bodies per say, but containers!" Baltar explained. "You see, the "bodies" I had him build don't have arms or legs, only the container for your brains and spinal cords, along with your eyes and the support systems that will keep you all alive and aware."**

**Baltar could see the fear rising in Adama's eyes and reveled in it. He was finally tasting the sweet nectar of victory over Adama and he wanted to squeeze every last drop out of him.**

"**These containers are truly marvels. I have to hand it to Ravashol, he truly is a genius! You see, he's made them so we can hook each and every nerve in the human body to a receptor in the machine. This makes it possible for me to stimulate the nerves in whatever fashion I wish. I can send feelings from absolute ecstasy to unbearable agony thru the nerves with the touch of a button. And the best part is that you will be able to see, hear and even feel everything, and since you will no longer have a physical body, you can't pass out or die! You'll be toys for my personal pleasure till the end of time!" **

**Baltar was nearly giddy with power as he walked closer to the helpless Adama. He knelt down next to him and in a soft voice that was hardly above a whisper, he spoke to Adama.**

"**So congratulations Adama, my old friend. You've not only led the entire human race to extinction, but you've condemned all those you love to an eternity of unending pain and suffering at my whim, and best of all, you will have to sit by a bear witness to all of it."**

**Baltar began to laugh as he stood up and began walking toward the exit. He gave orders to the Centurions on the bridge to begin transporting the prisoners to his Baseship so they could begin the brain transfers immediately. A Centurion reported that the entire human fleet had been eliminated with no survivors. Baltar's laughter increased at this news. Then another voice, that of one of the IL series Cylons was heard. **

"**We have word from our task force Baltar. They report that long range scans of one of the star systems ahead show what appears to be a moderately advanced human presence on the third planet. It is believed that this is Earth."**

"**Excellent, excellent! Did you hear that Adama?" Baltar gushed. "We've found your precious Earth! You almost made it, pity you couldn't thou. Tell you what I'm going to do Adama, I'm going to take you there aboard my Baseship and give you a front row seat to the total annihilation of the Earth and all those that live there. How does that sound…….old friend?"**

**Adama could take no more of the mental torture. He was helpless to stop the destruction of the colonies, helpless to stop the destruction of the fleet, helpless to keep his loved ones safe, and now he was helpless to save Earth. The mental anguish was too much. Adama began to scream!**

**NOOOOOOO!**

**In the darkness of his quarters, Adama springs up in his bed. His heart is pounding as if it's about to burst thru his chest. The bed clothes he's wearing are soaked thru with sweat. The cold sweat of fear! He looks about the room franticly, searching for the enemies that had invaded his sleep, but the room is as it should be. He swings his legs over the edge of the bed and sits for a moment, trying to will his thundering heart to slow.**

**It seemed so real!**

**After several centons, Adama is able to calm himself down. He glances at the chronometer on the small table next to his bed. There are less the two centars before he is due on the bridge to relieve Colonel Tigh. Knowing that further attempts at sleep would be futile, He decides to get up and eat an early morning meal.**

**He gets up and walks to the restroom, looking forward to a long, hot turbowash when the com system sounds. Adama stares at the com unit for a moment as if he knew it was about to sound, then walks over to his desk and activates the viewer knowing that there must be a serious problem if someone is disturbing him during his sleep period.**

**Colonel Tigh's face fills the screen and from his expression, its not good news.**

'**Yes Colonel, what can do for you?" Adama asked with an uneasy feeling.**

"**Sorry to disturb you Commander, but we've lost contact with one of our patrols and their now fifty centons past their scheduled check in time."**

**Adama had the strongest feeling of de'ja' vu, as if he where reliving some moment from his past…….or a dream.**

"**Who's patrol is it Colonel? **

"**Lieutenant Jolly and Flight Sergeant Greenbean."**

**Adama's face went ashen as it finally hit him as to why this all seemed so familiar!**

**The dream.**

"**Colonel, do you have any other patrols out at this time?" Adama asked, already knowing the answer.**

"**Yes, we have one other patrol out, in Epsilon sector. Why?" Tigh said with a questioning look on his face.**

"**The pilots of that patrol……. Ensign Konst and Flight Sergeant Crader?" Adama said more as a statement then a question.**

"**That's right Commander, but how did you know that?" Tigh asked with a worried look on his face.**

**Adama didn't answer. He got up from his desk and walked into the washroom. He splashed several handfuls of cool water on his face, then stood with his hands planted on the counter, staring into the sink. After a few moments, he slowly raised his head and stared into the mirror. He was shaking and his face had lost nearly all its color. He had visibly aged twenty yahren in the past few centons. He stared into his own haunted eyes and began mumbling to himself over and over again……….It was only a dream! This isn't happening! It was only a dream!**

**THE END**


End file.
